Among the Tombs
by PandaPez
Summary: A supposedly routine trip to Omega to pick up parts for the Normandy takes an unexpected turn for Garrus and Shepard when they run into someone from her past. Set during ME2. Shakarian
1. Chapter 1: Wake up, Commander

Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs,  
and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.  
- Herman Melville

"Wake up, Commander."

Shepard's eyes flickered open, and for a brief moment the sounds of gunfire and explosions flashed through her mind. She rubbed the memory away with a hand and rolled over to look at the clock beside her bed.

_0500. Great._

"Shepard, are you awake?" Miranda's voice crackled through the intercom overhead.

"I am now." Shepard yawned, sitting up. "We really need to work on your bedside manner, Miranda."

"This isn't the time, Shepard." Miranda replied, her sharp tone managing to cut it's way through even the intercom's static. "We have a situation in the engine room."

_Of course we do._ "What is it?" Shepard asked, getting up and heading towards her dresser. Her bruised muscles prickled at the sudden movement, but she ignored them.

"I'm not sure. Donnelly says it has something to do with FBA couplings you acquired for them."

Shepard pulled on a clean uniform. "The ones we got on Omega?"

"Yes. You should hurry, Commander. Donnelly said it wasn't good."

"On my way now." she said, stepping into the elevator and punching the Engineer Deck button. She stretched as it carried her down, closing her eyes and rolling her head around her shoulders. _How much sleep did I get? _she wondered. _Four hours? _The elevator slowed to a stop, earlier than she expected, and she sighed and opened her eyes.

"Garrus." she said, mildly surprised to find the turian staring back at her.

"Shepard." he answered, mandibles twitching slightly. Even after all this time she still had some trouble reading his expressions, but she took that one to mean he was as surprised as she was by their sudden meeting. "What are you doing up this early?"

"Situation in the engine room." she explained as she stepped over to make room, noticing for the first time she'd stopped on the Crew Deck. "You?"

"I'm always up early." he said, his voice enviably awake and clear as he joined her. He lifted his hands as he gestured to the small mound of clothes he held there. "Thought I'd catch a shower before all the humans woke up and stole the hot water."

"We do love our hot water." Shepard acknowledged. "But why are you waiting for the elevator?"

Garrus gestured to his clothes again. A closer examination revealed that the fabric was on its last leg, it's worn threads frayed to almost sheer in some places. Shepard thought she saw a hole in one of the sleeves. "Apparently vigilante life doesn't suit clothes as well as you'd imagine. Figured it was time to give these a proper send off out the trash compactor."

"No kidding." she said with a small grin. Once again the elevator slowed and the doors opened as they reached their floor. "Now to find out what's gone wrong this time. Coming Garrus?" she added as she stepped out.

"Wouldn't miss it." he replied, voice dry as he followed her. "I'll just drop these off and meet you there."

She nodded as she turned away and headed through the nearby doors. She kept her steps light as she walked across the metal grated floor, mindful that Jack might still be asleep below, and entered into the main engine room.

"I _told_ you there was something off with the readings yesterday." Daniels said, hunched over the diagnostics panel in front of her.

"Ah, would you let it go, woman?" Donnelly called back to her from further down the room. "Tali, have you gotten to the arrays yet?"

"Almost. _Keelah,_ it's hot down here. I hate these damn vents." Tali's voice answered from somewhere below their feet.

"Give me the update, Daniels." Shepard said, coming up beside the engineer and examining the screen. The jumbled mess of numbers and readings made as much sense to her as a hanar bio-luminescent joke, but habit made her look it over anyway.

"Commander!" Daniels said, jumping slightly in surprise. "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't hear you come in."

"It's fine. Miranda told me there was something off with the FDA couplings?" Shepard asked as she walked further into the room and came up next to Donnelly, who was crouched over a hole in the floor where a grate had been removed to provide access to the inner engine.

"FBA couplings, ma'am." Daniels corrected, following her. "We first noticed a spike in the engine's thermal readings yesterday, and I wanted to run some diagnostics to check in to it, but numb nuts over here said it was nothing."

"Damnit Gabby, watch what you say in front of the Commander." Donnelly said, looking up at them. "Are you tryin' to get me fired?"

"We'll all going to get fired if the engine ends up overheating, idiot." she retorted as she kicked at his leg.

"Wait, what's this about the engine overheating?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I thought these things just calibrated."

"Essentially, but there's more to it than that." Donnelly answered, rubbing his leg. "The couplings work with the attenuators in the primary power system that channels the field bleed-"

"Kenneth, you're speaking tech." Daniels cut in, turning to Shepard. "Basically what he's saying is that the couplings you got us must have been defected. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but these seem to really have gone off the deep end. Somehow their managing to mess with the functionality of the louvers, which is increasing pressure loss across the panel and causing reduced air flow. Without that air flow, the engine can't cool down properly."

Shepard rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to understand. "Alright," she said slowly, turning her head slightly as Garrus came up beside them. "So how do we fix it? Can't we just send Garrus down there? He's our resident expert on calibrating things after all."

"Funny, Shepard." he replied, mandibles twitching in what she assumed was a grin. "But calibrating a spaceship's engine and calibrating a gun are hardly the same thing."

"Sorry, commander, but that's a no go anyway." Donnelly answered, standing up. "We've already got Tali down there running damage control by uninstalling the damn things, but the increased strain on the louvers has caused some damage. We're gonna have to get some new ones and soon or we'll be facing even more problems."

"Right." Shepard said, rubbing her itching eyes. "Nothing's ever that simple. Well, we're close enough to Omega to take the shuttle there and back. Can I find whatever parts we need there?"

"Definitely, Shepard." Tali answered, popping her head up out of the vent. "Need me to come along?"

"No, you stay here and help Daniels and Donnelly control the situation. Garrus and I can handle this one." Shepard said, glancing at the turian. He gave her a nod and she looked up at the intercom above their heads. "EDI, send the schematics to my omni-tool and get the shuttle prepped. We'll leave in the next ten minutes."

"Understood, Commander." EDI's voice chimed in response.

"Garrus, go get your gear and meet me in the shuttle bay. The rest of you, keep up the work. We'll be back soon."

"You can count on us, ma'am." Daniels said, giving her a salute.

"Thanks a million, Commander." Donnelly added, scratching the back of his neck. "And sorry about all this."

"It's fine." Shepard said, patting his shoulder before turning to leave. "It's not like you're asking me to go on a suicide mission or anything."

* * *

**A/N: Since most of my Shakarian stuff's usually short and serious , I thought I'd try something different and go with a longer, more mission-like piece for a change. The Shepard in here's a little more specific than I usually do - she's an Earthborn Sole-Survivor Paragon - but other than that I tried to keep her as vague as possible. Also, if any of you are engine savvy, I completely apologize for the inaccuracies I'm sure I made. Anyway, that's it, so hope you all enjoy.~**


	2. Chapter 2: The Citadel and the Commander

"You're over-reacting." Shepard said as they stepped into the crowded Omega street. She looked around as they walked, getting her bearings. It was different coming in by the shuttle ports instead of the usual ship docking bays.

"Hardly." Garrus replied, a taloned hand resting against his stomach. "I never would have thought it possible, but your piloting skills are worse than your driving ones."

"Hey, leave my driving out of this." Shepard retorted, riling at the old jab. "I've told you before that the Mako was a complex piece of machinery. And besides, I think I handled it pretty well after the first few tries."

"If by _pretty well_, you mean well enough to not flip us over anymore, then oh yeah, you were a regular pro."

Shepard hit him.

"Ouch, fine, _fine._ Let's agree to disagree." Garrus said, rubbing his wound as he looked around. "Fastest way to the merchant district would be down that there." He pointed and the two of them set off. They walked side by side, hands and arms occasionally bumping as they were jostled by the busy crowd around them.

"Feels strange being out like this, just the two of us." Garrus commented after a while.

"Really?" Shepard asked, tearing her gaze away from an ad for a model ship store. She made a mental note to stop by there before they left. She glanced over at Garrus, noting the stiffness in his gait as they walked. Did being back on Omega make him tense? _Of course it does. He lost his whole team here and nearly died himself. You shouldn't have asked him to come._

"Yeah. You're usually all about the 'three-man squad.'" Garrus continued, shouldering his way past a group of arguing vorcha in their path. One of them hissed at the interruption, but didn't dare more than that after spotting the pair's armor and weapons.

Shepard arched her brows Garrus, but didn't comment on his brusque treatment of the vorcha. "Everyone else was still asleep and it made more sense to leave Tali there to help out." she said and then paused, thinking. "Well, Miranda was up. We could have brought her."

Garrus huffed, his mandibles flicking. "And wait for her to do her hair? I don't think the _Normandy _could have lasted that long, even with Tali doing damage control."

Shepard grinned, glad she'd brought Garrus along despite her guilt; the turian always managed to make her feel at ease. _It's nice_, she thought, _having him around._ It felt easy. Natural, even.

They walked in silence for a time, Garrus leading the way and Shepard taking in the sites. In many ways Omega reminded her of the slums back on Earth. The flashing neon lights, the stores and clubs that never closed, the trash in the streets, the beggers in the alleys. If it weren't for the lack of blue sky and excess of alien faces, she might never have been able to tell the two apart.

She heard Garrus' voice through the din of noises surrounding them, pulling her from her thoughts. "What?" she asked, looking over at him.

"I asked if you were awake over there." He repeated, leading them down a side street. It was emptier than the main one and quieter. "You looked like one of those walking human corpses from Joker's vids. What are they called, _crumbies_?" he asked, drawing the word out as he tilted his head in concentration.

"Zombies?" Shepard guessed, her mouth twitching at his confusion.

He nodded. "Yeah, those."

She wasn't sure if she should take the comparison as an insult or not. "Actually, I was just thinking of home." she said, and then frowned slightly. Why had she told him that?

Garrus' mandibles flicked. "Your home? Earth, right?"

"Yeah," Shepard answered, eyes watching the mix and match assortment of species that surrounded them. "Though calling it that doesn't make much sense. Haven't been there in years."

"Tell me about it." Garrus said, and Shepard felt her brows rise slightly in surprise.

"Not much to tell." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "The part I grew up in was a lot like Omega, actually. Less aliens though." She added, giving him a pointed look. "In fact, I didn't see a turian in person until years after I joined up with the Alliance."

"A shame you went without such splendor for so long." Garrus commented.

"Without a doubt." she replied. "Had to make do with just beetles before then."

"Beetles?"

Shepard felt the corner of her lip curl as she shook her head. "Forget it."

"Right." They turned another corner.

"What's Palaven like?" Shepard asked after a moment.

"Hot." Garrus answered immediately, giving Shepard the sense there was an old joke there. "First thing I noticed after leaving it was how much _cooler _everywhere else was. You other species have it so easy. No wonder you're all so soft."

"Says the turian who can't function without his hot showers, apparently."

Garrus' mandibles flicked again. "Truthfully, though, it's not all that bad. It's more tropical than anything else."

Shepard nodded. "I remember you saying something like that back on..." She trailed off as memories of that day flashed before her. She pushed the images away and cleared her throat. "Back on Virmire."

"Yeah." Garrus said, giving no indication if he'd noticed her pause or not as he looked around. They'd finally arrived at the marketplace. "Alright, there should be a mech place somewhere around here. Too bad you sent that quarian off, or we could have just gone to him."

"The kid was miserable and deserved a second chance." Shepard explained as they walked past a ramen shop. Her mouth watered as the smell of onions and broth reached them. What were the chances they carried both dextro and levo food there? "Besides, he's the one who sold us the bad parts to begin with.

Garrus shrugged. "Still would have been helpful right now."

"Look, there's Marsh's place." Shepard said, pointing to the _Omega Market. _"He should have something. If nothing else, he'll be able to point us in the right place."

"And if we're lucky we'll be able to put that hard earned discount of yours to use." Garrus commented, shooting her a sidelong look. She rolled her eyes at him and they made their way over to the store front. It was mostly empty at this time of day, with only two other customers browsing the wares when they arrived. Their backs were to Shepard, but it was enough for her to tell one was human and the other salarian.

"Marsh." She said, walking up to the batarian. He looked up from a datapad on the counter and blinked his eyes.

"Commander Shepard." He greeted, nodding. "Back on Omega?"

"For a bit. I need some parts for the ship." she explained, resting her weight on her forearms as she leaned forward on the counter. Garrus took up a stance beside her, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the crowd outside the shop.

"Anything I can help with?" Marsh asked as put his datapad away and gave her his full attention.

"I'm looking for these. Know where I can get them?" Shepard asked, bringing the information up on her omni-tool and showing it to him. She waited while he read it over, watching the other customers from the corner of her eyes; their backs were still towards her, but she could see the stiff gestures one of them – the human - was making in Marsh's direction as he spoke.

"Hmm. You're in luck, human. I got pair of those in stock just two days ago. Pretty rare. And costly." He added.

"Good thing I've got that discount then." Shepard commented, focusing her attention back on him. "How much?"

"Five hundred credits."

Shepard examined her gloved hand. "Four hundred."

The batarian sighed. "Four fifty. That's as low as I go, Shepard."

She straightened up. "It'll have to do, I guess." She heard Garrus snort quietly in amusement next to her as she punched her payment information into the nearby kiosk. She shot him a sideways glance, her brows raised. The turian gave her a small shrug and went back to his people watching.

"What dock should I order the delivery to?" he asked, opening up his own omni-tool.

"No dock this time." Shepard answered. "We came by shuttle. Can we just pick the parts up ourselves? We're in a rush."

The batarian frowned. "Hold on," he said as he checked his omni-tool. Shepard glanced over at the other customers again, noting that the human was leaving. His posture was stiff as he stalked away, while the salarian seemed to pull into himself in response, huddling over slightly. Shepard raised one her brows; there was something familiar about the way the human had held himself. It was the rigid set of his shoulders as he walked. They had looked almost militaristic; a sharp change against the somewhat hunched form favored by the untrained mercenaries that usually filled the area.

"Alright, it's cleared." Marsh said, pulling her attention back to him. "Here are the coordinates to the warehouse. The guards on duty should know you're coming. If there's any trouble just give em this" he added, handing her a small pink slip.

"Right. Thanks for the help Marsh." Shepard nodded, pocketing the paper, then turned to leave.

Marsh grunted and went back to his datapad. "Come back the next time you need something."

"You'd think with the budget Cerberus gives us you wouldn't need to be such a cheapass." Garrus remarked as they set off down the street.

"A good deal never hurt anyone." Shepard retorted, bringing up a map of the district on her omni-tool. The warehouse was relatively close to them, situated on the southern end of the Tuhi District, but was still far enough away that she found herself debating whether it would just be quicker to take a transit shuttle there or not. She glanced up at the crowd around them, which had thickened up with more humans as the morning had worn on. The transit lines would probably be packed with commuters. "Know any shortcuts to this warehouse?" she asked, showing her omni-tool to Garrus.

"Hmm," he hummed as he leaned over her to look at it. A subtle scent of soap mixed with gun grease surrounded him, and Shepard felt herself swallow slightly, resisting the sudden urge to breathe in deep. "Yeah, I think so. We could go up through here, but at this time of day we might run into congestion…" He traced out a route with one of his talons, and paused. "Or we could cut through here. We'd save time, but it's not what exactly what you'd call a nice neighborhood."

"There're nice neighborhoods on Omega?" Shepard asked, arching a brow.

"No." Garrus acknowledged, scratching slightly at the scars on his face. "But some are worse than others. And this one's not one I'd usually take a woman to, even if she is the _great_ Commander Shepard."

Shepard felt the corner of her mouth tug into a small smile. "You know this place better than I do. It's your call, Vakarian." She added, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

His mandibles twitched at the familiar words turned around on him. "Well...I suppose we did clean this place out pretty good the last time we here. I can't imagine there's anything formidable enough left to give a Spectre trouble if she decided to take a stroll down some dingy back alley."

"Then it's settled. Lead the way, Garrus." Shepard said, closing her omni-tool. "And don't worry. I'll protect you if we run into anything too nasty."

"And I'll be sure to take the kill shots when you miss, like always." Garrus replied, tilting his head at her before leading the way down the hectic street. _Is he sauntering? _She wondered as he strode off. _Can turians even saunter?_

Shepard shook her head before following after him, and silence fell between the two once again. It was an easy silence, the kind that said almost as much as words ever could. Neither of the pair noticed this, however, as they walked side by side, both too absorbed in their own observations of their surroundings; their eyes scanned the multitude of faces that passed them with the habitual ease that came from years of experience in combat, taking note of the frequent individuals who, like them, carried weapons and glancing over those that didn't. Occasionally, Shepard found herself distracted by one neon ad or another and after a few blocks one holovid in particular caught her attention. She slowed to a stop as she looked at it closer.

"_Eden Prime, a colonial paradise." _a deep voice-over narrated as scenes of a tranquil countryside flashed across the screen._ "Hallmark of humanity and symbol of peace in a universe as dangerous as it is beautiful._

_But how safe is it really?"_

"Shepard?" Garrus asked, coming up beside her.

"Shhh!" she hissed, waving a hand at him. The scene in the vid changed, showing a sleek warship drifting through deep space. Two new voices appeared, a cool female one that sounded asari, followed by slightly higher pitched on that might have been salarian.

"'_We've got reports of instability along the Geth border. The Alliance is sending in its best marine to look into the situation.'_

'_What use is a single human?'_

'_She won't be alone. A turian Spectre named Nihlus is going with her.'_

'_A turian? And a human? This won't end well.'"_

The scene flashed to a regal looking turian, posture rigid and proud as he stared up at a monitor. The hiss of a door opening came from somewhere off-screen and he turned.

"'_Ah, Commander Shepard...I was hoping we'd get the chance to speak.'"_

Shepard felt her eyes go wide as the shot panned to side to showcase the newly arrived voluptuous woman.

"'_Nihlus.' _The woman said in greeting, her voice a tantalizing purr that oozed power with every syllable. She walked forward, her hips swaying dangerously with each step, and paused inches away from the taller turian. They held each other's gaze for a moment as a soft instrumental melody rose in the background. Then, in rush of movement, the two embraced, touching their foreheads together as their arms pulled the other close.

Shepard's mouth dropped.

The trailer continued, flashing between different scenes: a colony burning as armed Geth marched across it; an armor clad and heartbroken woman cradling the prone turian in her arms; her passionate vow of revenge against the rogue Spectre behind it all; explosions and gunshots as she raced across the galaxy in hunt of him; and finally, as the music reached its crescendo, her final arrival at the besieged Citadel, gun held tight in her hand as she watched the silent war between organics and synthetics overhead.

"_From the man who brought you the record breaking hit, _Fleet and Flotilla, _Francis Kit delivers his next masterpiece. As the galaxy faces it's greatest threat, one woman will rise to stop it: _The Citadel and the Commander_, coming to HV in 2186 C.E"_

The scene faded to black, changing after a moment to an ad for the new Cision Pro Mark 4 toothbrush. Shepard stood there, staring.

Eventually, the sound of Garrus clearing his throat next to her broke her stupor. She turned to him. "Did you know about, about…" She struggled for a word for what she'd seen. "about _this?_" she finally got out, gesturing wildly towards the holo-screen.

Garrus shifted. "I'd, uh, heard some rumors. Didn't know it was already in production."

"You heard rumors." Shepard repeated, staring at him.

"Yeah."

"…and you never thought about, I don't know, _mentioning_ it?"

The turian gave her a weak shrug. "I just assumed you'd already heard…" He trailed off, looking at the screen, then flicked his mandibles. "Never knew you had a thing for aliens, Shepard."

"_Vakarian."_

Garrus cleared his throat again. "Right, dropping it."


	3. Chapter 3: Challenges

"'You're over-reacting.'" Garrus quoted, his voice tinted with just a smidge of satisfaction as he led them through the narrow and crammed street. Tall, rusted, metallic buildings fenced them in on either side, disappearing into the haze of steam that hovered meters above their heads. Kiosks and merchant stands were carved into the sides of the buildings, their wide array of wares a testament to the diverse population that was packed into what little space was left on the street.

"I don't want to talk about it." Shepard grumbled from just behind him, pressed close due to the thick crowd. It still felt a little strange being out together like this, with Garrus in the lead and no third squadmate around. It wasn't exactly different in a bad way, though; in fact, the morning had proven to be rather entertaining so far, aside from when he'd been sure Shepard's piloting was going to succeed where both Reapers and Collectors had failed and finally put an end to infamous human Spectre once and for all – tag along turian included.

"So the movie got a few things wrong." He continued, his sub harmonics radiating his amusement. Not for the first time, he found himself glad Shepard couldn't understand them. At least, he reflected as his mandibles flicked with doubt, he didn't think she could. He'd realized over the last few months that she'd become remarkably good at reading turian body language for a human.

"I _don't_ want to talk about it." she repeated, and his peripherals caught the way the lines of hair over each of her eyes – what were they called again? Eyebrews? – lowered dangerously. He let his mandibles flare into a smile.

"Alright, alright." he said, scratching at his scars as they waited for a group of batarians to move out of the way. Spirits, he'd forgotten how _cramped _everything was in this part of Omega. _I'll die a happy turian if I never set another foot in this hell-hole after this._

"I barely even _knew _him." Shepard almost groaned a moment later, incredulous, and he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Thought you didn't want to talk about it?"

"How did they even come up with that? I mean, we couldn't have known each other for longer than a couple of days before reaching Eden Prime. Who falls in love in just_ two days_?" she continued, her hands gesturing helplessly in an attempt to get her point across.

"Impressive. Never knew you were such a fast worker, Shepard." Garrus commented.

"This can't be legal. Don't I at least get some sort of say in this?"Shepard went on, seemingly unaware of Garrus' input.

"Maybe. Well, you would if the galaxy didn't think you were dead anyway." Garrus said. "I don't think deceased Spectres have all that many rights, sorry."

"I'm going to write them an email." Shepard stated. "I'll send it to that producer, what's his name? Kit something? I'll tell him the whole story, let him know how wrong he got it."

"Right." Garrus hummed, once again pausing as their path was blocked, this time by a pair of krogan. The two were arguing over something, one of which was pointing to a nearby sushi stall. Garrus took the opportunity throw another glance back at Shepard. His mandibles flicked.

"Shepard," he said, turning back around. "Not to interrupt, but we're being followed."

"Hmm?" she said, looking up at him from the message she'd been typing on her omni-tool. "The salarian? Yeah, he's been tailing us since we left Marsh's. Think he's a mugger?"

"No, too well-armed for that." Garrus answered, watching as the krogan who'd been pointing at the sushi place head-butted the other. He wasn't surprised Shepard had noticed their stalker, even as…'distracted' as she had been from that trailer. "I'm thinking merc."

"Eclipse maybe?" Shepard asked, shutting her omni-tool and stepping to the side as the krogan finally moved out of the way.

"Possibly." The salarian wasn't wearing the merc group's armor or yellow colors, though. From the few glances Garrus had gotten of him, he'd placed their follower as middle-aged – mid twenties to early thirties for a salarian – and picked out the outline of at least one gun hidden underneath his somewhat baggy brown suit.

Shepard paused to look at a stall selling the strange human hats Joker always wore, and Garrus caught the quick glance she shot at him from the corner of her eyes. "Do you think someone recognized you?" she asked quietly, her movements casual as she picked up a cap up that had _I love my Captain _written across it in glittery pink letters.

Garrus looked away. "Unlikely..." He said slowly, scratching at his scars. He'd done well at remaining anonymous back during his time here; few had ever connected him personally to the notorious Archangel. Even more, most of those who had were all dead now, either from Sidonis' treachery or Garrus' own hand.

His mandibles twitched as he thought of the other turian, impatience burning within him. He would find Sidonis, someday – of that Garrus had no doubt. Sidonis _would_ pay for what he'd done. It was the time until then, the helpless _waiting_ while that bastard went free somewhere out there, that haunted Garrus, hovering in his mind just as clearly as the name's carved into his visor did in his eyes.

"…but still possible." Shepard said, her words bringing Garrus back from his thoughts. She put the cap back down, shaking her head slightly, and gestured for him to lead the way. "I should have considered that before bringing you here with me." Her voice was softer than he was used to, the always seemingly flat human tone laced with an emotion he couldn't quite identify. Confused, he glanced over at her – easier now that the street had widened a little and they were able to walk side by side – but her face was smooth as she continued her supposedly innocent sightseeing.

Garrus _hmphed._ "And what, brought Miranda along instead? I can only imagine all the fun you two would be having right now."

He'd have been lying if he said the quick smirk that spread over Shepard's face at his words didn't send a small shiver of satisfaction through him. "She's really not so bad, you know. There's a decent person in there if you just look hard enough."

"Right, well, I'll leave that to you. Not sure a Cerberus agent would appreciate a turian staring at her for overly long periods of time, regardless of the reasons." Again one of the corners of Shepard's lips rose in amusement.

"Probably a good idea when you put it that way. Speaking of which," she said, as they turned onto a street that, like the one had before, opened up wider. They weren't far from their destination now, their impending arrival hinted at by the change in the buildings on either side of them; they'd grown larger and less populous as they'd traveled from merchant to warehouse district. "How do you want to handle our new friend?"

Garrus glanced over at her. "You want me to decide?"

Shepard nodded "I do. Like I said earlier, you know this place better than me. And besides," she added, lowering her voice as something flashed in her eyes – was that amusement? Was she enjoying this? "We've already established there's a good chance that this has something to do with a certain turian vigilante. I'm curious to see how the infamous Archangel handles himself on his home turf."

The Archangel in question shifted slightly, rolling his head around on his shoulders. The ghosts of his mistakes hovered in his eyes, staring as he walked by. He coughed. "Yeah, maybe you should just take this one, Shepard. Don't want to steal your thunder, as you humans say."

Shepard turned her head towards him, the lines of hair above her eyes lowering slightly as she looked at him. Her gaze felt heavy on him, and he resisted the urge to fidget underneath it. When she spoke, however, her tone was light, almost mocking even. "What's wrong, Vakarian? Afraid of showing off for your commanding officer?"

_Afraid of getting her killed_, he thought quietly. Just like he had all the others. Still, the challenge in Shepard's voice had been clear and Garrus Vakarian had never been one to back down. He met her eyes. "If you insist. Just try not to be too impressed, Shepard. Can't have you distracted with thoughts of trying for a repeat of your last solo _liaison_ with a turian."

He turned away, fighting to keep his mandibles from flaring with laughter at the expression she made, and strode forward.


	4. Chapter 4: Just Tech

"Not much of a plan, Garrus." Shepard remarked, her face partially hidden behind stray strands of hair as she examined the screen of her omni-tool. "But still, I like it." The turian adjusted his weight from one foot to the other, the approval in her tone easing the knot of tense muscles just beneath his carapace.

"Well, you're the one who said plans never seem to really work out in our line of work. Figured we might as well try and keep this one as uncomplicated as possible, just in case." He leaned forward slightly to see the screen from over her shoulder, breathing in the subtle scent that surrounded her as he got closer. Despite himself, he found his gaze lingering on the glowing strands of hair for a moment; they almost seemed to shine in the dim, shifting Omega light, reflecting the muted copper colors back in a myriad of new ones. It really was rather remarkable, the sheen that most human hair had. _How does Shepard keep hers so polished?_ He'd heard once, back in his C-Sec days, that humans had a special sort of soap just for their hair, separate from the kind they used to wash their bodies. Was that really true? He'd have to look that up when they got back to the _Normandy._

"Looks like we're almost there," Shepard said, shifting his attention back to the omni-tool. They were only a couple of blocks away from the warehouse now. She traced a small line on the map nearby their current position. "This alley's close enough that we should have enough time if we move fast."

"Works for me." He commented, straightening up as she closed the glowing interface.

"You ready?" Shepard asked softly, cracking her knuckles.

"Always." he replied, anticipation narrowing his eyes slightly. His talons twitched, longing for his Mantis.

They turned the corner.

Shepard disappeared.

Not completely, of course. The telltale flicker of her Tactical Cloak as she activated it was gone in less than a blink, but even the best tech upgrades couldn't make her completely invisible. Not that that kept Shepard from trying, though. In the few seconds it took for her cloak to activate fully she'd already slipped away from him and blended into the crowd seamlessly. In fact, he admitted silently, if it weren't for his visor's biofeedback monitors Garrus himself would have lost track of her just as easily as any other civilian on the street had.

Just as easily, for example, as a certain salarian stalker would.

"See him?" Garrus muttered as he continued walking down the street. The amount of people on it had thinned out considerably as they'd gotten further into the warehouse district, but it was still as busy as one might expect from a place as crowded as Omega. Still, at least he could walk without having to stop every few feet as a larger group blocked the way.

"Not yet," Shepard's voice crackled in his ear. He kept one eye on his visor's monitor, watching as she paused just beside the corner they'd come from. "Guess he was further back than- got him."

Another heart rate appeared close to Shepard's as it approached the corner. Garrus sped up, closing the distance between him and the alley. It was located a little less than halfway down the block, a narrow corridor between two rusted storage houses that was just wide enough to fit a pair of krogan standing side by side. Garrus' mandibles twitched as his visor picked up the readings of another life form coming from inside it. He wasn't surprised; after all, finding an empty alley on Omega was about as likely to happen as finding a live Prothean buried away in cyro on a backwater colony somewhere.

Behind him, the salarian finally rounded the corner. Garrus slowed slightly, giving his follower a chance to spot him, and continued on. He kept close to a group of vorcha and watched his monitor as he waited. Sure enough, the salarian's heart rate, already high, began to increase a moment later as he realized he couldn't get a visual on one of his targets. It continued to climb as he sped up, likely assuming Shepard was hidden from sight by Garrus and the group of vorcha. Garrus waited, his breath slowing as adrenaline began to flow through him. _Almost there,_ he thought as the salarian neared the alley.

Garrus slowed, watching as the salarian's heart raced.

"Here we go, Shepard." the turian muttered, and then turned around.

The salarian almost jumped at Garrus' sudden movement. His heart rate, however, actually did; the readings in Garrus' monitor spiked as the salarian panicked at the threat of discovery. He looked around, his head snapping viciously in different directions before settling on the nearby alleyway, and then powerwalked into the dank space as casually as one might any shop on the Citadel.

A moment later, Garrus mandibles flared into a smile as a high-pitched squeal crackled into his ear.

* * *

Shepard slammed the salarian against the wall, her Cloak flickering out as she did so. He turned his face to the side to keep it from being bashed into the hard metal, and his visible eye opened wide with shock. He opened his mouth to cry out, and Shepard casually pulled upward on one of his arms. His squeaked in pain as his arm was bent into the unnatural position behind his back.

"Looking for someone?" Shepard asked as she relieved the pressure on his arm slightly. Then, before he could reply, she turned towards the vorcha huddled further down in the alley and added, "Mind giving us a minute?"

The vorcha hissed, but otherwise seemed unsurprised by the sudden assault before him. He stood up, muttering something indistinguishable – Shepard thought she caught the words 'filty' and 'human' several times, but couldn't be sure – and then walked away, disappearing into the busy street just to their right.

"W-wait, what? You can't just leave me here!" the salarian cried after it, and Shepard turned back to him.

"Tell me why you're following us and I might let you live." she said, her tone flat.

"I-I I'm not," he stuttered, fright tripping the words as they came out. "I-Who are you? Let me-" he cut off with a gasp as she once again twisted his arm upwards.

"Tell me why you're following us." Shepard repeated.

The salarian whimpered, his body going limp in Shepard's arms. "I can't believe this is happening," he rambled, "I told him I wasn't cut out for this. 'Only tech' I said, 'No field work'. Would have joined the STG if I wanted to-"

Shepard tightened her grip on his arm slightly. "Told_ who_?"

"I-I don't know his name! None of us do!" the salarian cried. "He goes by the alias Ghost, makes all of us call him that. Says real names are too dangerous."

Shepard tilted her head to look at Garrus as he joined them in the alley. "What is it with you people and the 'codenames' on this place?" she asked with a sigh.

The turian shrugged. "Never heard of him before. Must be new."

She turned back to her stalker. "Tell me everything you know about this 'Ghost'."

"He's human, ex-Alliance. Started up personal merc group awhile back, recruited me for tech only. Promised I wouldn't have to do field work, stay in the back, away from the bullets and pai-" The salarian breathed in sharply as Shepard gently pulled up on his arms. "Takes odd jobs, protection and such."

"And why did he have you follow us?"

"Not following 'us', following _you_. Said you were a ghost, just like him. Commander Shepard, the dead spectre that took down Saren. _I_ said he was crazy, but he wouldn't listen. Said we could ransom you, that they were people who'd pay a lot of money for you. Said I had to keep track of you while he got plans ready. Told him that wasn't tech, not appropriately trained in tracking. He said no choice."

"What did he mean, plans?"

"Don't know, went separate ways. Was supposed to follow until he contacted me. Probably ambush, but can't be sure."

"Has he contacted you since Marsh's?"

The salarian twitched, obviously surprised. "N-no, that was last time."

She paused, thinking. "Where can I find him?"

"Don't know. Merc band only arrived here yesterday. No base of operations, thus no viable location for supposed whereabouts."

"Think harder." Shepard tugged on his arm.

"I swear, that's all I know!" the salarian said, his one visible eye blinking furiously.

He twitched beneath her hold, his body shaking with each breath. Shepard flexed her grip on his arms, feeling the ripples of tension that shot through him at her slight movement. She waited.

"S-spent time at Afterlife, maybe there. Otherwise, no idea. Don't know anything else, have to believe me!"

"I do." she said and the salarian sagged visibly, relief sweating out of him.

Shepard smashed his head into the wall and let him drop to the ground, unconscious.

"Harsh." Garrus commented from behind her, where he was leaning idly against the wall.

"Maybe." Shepard admitted, looking down at the salarians prone body. "He'll wake up with a headache and sore shoulders, but at least he'll wake up."

"Why not just kill him? He's a merc, Shepard. Scum like all the rest of them." Garrus said, his tone low. Shepard glanced over at him, noting the way his eyes narrowed as he stared at the body. The look on his face was one she'd never seen back when they'd first met; back when he'd just been Officer Vakarian, the C-Sec employee frustrated almost to his breaking point by all the rules and regulations he believed did nothing but help the criminals get away.

_He had anger in his eyes back then_, she thought as she watched him, _but never this level of burning hatred, whatever he said. _No, this was the face of 'Archangel' that she saw now, the turian Garrus had become in order to survive. This was the side of him that had always been there, the one that thought only of justice and vengeance, brought out in full strength now that he was back in the place it had first been born in.

_I never should have brought him, _Shepard thought again.

"He's harmless, Garrus. Just an idiot who made some mistakes and got in over his head. He doesn't deserve to die for that." she said, holding the turian's gaze with her own as she added, slightly softer, "We all make mistakes."

He looked away, giving her one of his shrugs.

"It's your call, Shepard."

Silence crowded the alleyway. Shepard scratched her cheek and looked down at the salarian. She bent over him as she examined his head wound, double-checking to make sure she hadn't gotten too carried away. She heard Garrus shift behind her, but didn't turn around. He coughed lightly a moment later, the sound harsh and sharp in the otherwise quiet alley.

"So, how do you want to handle this 'Ghost' anyway?" he asked a few moments later, his tone back to its normal octave. "I think I remember Joker mentioning something about human holy men usually being called in on cases like this."

Shepard's lip curled as she wondered what horror vid he'd watched that had given him that idea. "I don't think an exorcist would help us all that much here." She paused, staring at the salarian's uncounscious face. Somehow, she'd forgotten how dangerous Omega could be, even for a Spectre like her. They were ridiculously outnumbered, thousands against just their two. Coming here without any back up aside from Garrus had been reckless, especially since the two of them combined apparently had enough enemies out there that even shopping put them at risk. Garrus and her might be the best, but Shepard had no illusions about how this would end if she pushed their luck and wasted time hunting down a single merc group among the hundreds that called Omega home. She couldn't afford to accidentally die here because one merc was out to get rich quick, not when she still had too much to do.

Not when the Collectors were still out there.

She exhaled as she made her decision, turning back to Garrus with an arched brow. "Honestly, there's not enough time in a _good_ day to track down all the people who want me dead, and we're already running late as it is. I'll have EDI or Miranda look into this guy when we get back to the _Normandy_. Maybe they'll be able to dig something up on him. For now, let's just go get those parts and get out off this hellhole."

Garrus straightened up and gestured for her to lead the way. "Couldn't have said it better myself."


	5. Chapter 5: Ting

"I think this is it," Shepard said, looking down at her omni-tool. She closed the glowing interface and raised her head, craning her neck slightly as she gazed up at the multistory building across the street from them. It was a towering circular construction of rusted metal and exposed pipes that pushed high into the Omega sky, its roof lost among the dark and smog as it climbed up past even the horde of shuttles that raced overhead. Shepard arched a brow. "It's bigger than I thought it'd be."

She turned to Garrus as he came up beside her. He gave the building a cursory glance and then tilted his head dismissively. "It's not all Marsh's, if that's what you're thinking. Each floor's usually reserved by a single vendor, rented from whatever crimelord owns the building."

Shepard nodded. "Makes sense. But which floor's Marsh's?" She eyed the massive tower again, resisting the urge to shudder as she tried to calculate just how long an elevator ride to the top might take. _A galaxy wide civilization that utilizes FTL drives, and yet we still use elevators slower than a sleepwalking Elcor. _

"There's usually a registry on the first floor." Garrus answered, nodding his head towards the set of front doors. Shepard glanced again at the hulking mass before them, hesitating. "What?" he asked.

She rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead. "Nothing's ever easy for us, is it?"

Garrus mandibles twitched. "Not usually, no."

"Chances are _something's _going to happen in there."

"Probably, yeah."

"Can't ever just be a simple, routine pick up."

Garrus scratched his scars. "Well, there was that one time on…never mind, forgot about the batarian slavers."

Shepard _hmphed _at the memory. They stood there, both staring at the tower before them.

Finally, she sighed and reached over her back, unholstering her Widow. "Right. Let's get this over with."

* * *

They walked into the building, Garrus falling in slightly behind Shepard as she led them towards the glowing VI situated just in front of the large, utility-sized elevator directly across from the front doors. He did a quick scan of the otherwise empty room, observing the five other people who were scattered about it. Three of them – a group of one volus with two heavily armored krogans – were off to the left, where a set of public terminals were situated along the wall. The other two were a pair of turians that flanked either side of the elevator, wearing matching armor with their assault rifles drawn. Garrus noticed their relaxed postures, guns angled towards the floor as they chatted to one another. _Sloppy, _he thought, considering Shepard and he both had their own weapons drawn.

"Good evening." the VI greeted as they approached it, its asari silhouette glowing in the dimly lit room. "How may I assist you today?"

"I need to know which floor's the storeroom for the _Omega Market._" Shepard said, angling her hips slightly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. _She's restless, _Garrus noted, feeling his grip on his Mantis tighten in response.

"The _Omega Market _is currently registered to the batarian merchant Marsh, who has taken out a lease for the forty-third floor." the VI answered, smiling at them. Shepard glanced at Garrus, jabbing her heads toward the elevator, and the two of them walked over to it. The guards eyed at them as they approached, but otherwise reacted very little as Shepard pressed the call button. To their credit, the two guards _had_ paused their conversation, which was something at least Garrus thought as they all stood there in silence. He looked over his Mantis as they waited, watching from his peripherals as Shepard rolled her shoulders.

The elevator arrived a moment later, the doors opening with a small hiss. Shepard looked over at him and arched one of her brows. _You ready?_

He gave a small shrug in response. _Always._

They stepped into the elevator.

* * *

Lein Orhe hated Omega. But then again, he hated pretty much everywhere else too.

The only place he'd ever really liked, he reflected as he sat at his desk overlooking the storage floor for level thirty-four, had been Sur'Kesh. Of course, even then he hadn't been completely happy; all that pressure to get the best marks, to pick the best field, to find the best mate….not to mention all of the ridiculous etiquette a person had to know if they wanted to get anywhere there. For a species that had such short lives, salarians sure were brutal when it came to remembering just who threw the best dinner parties and who'd gotten drunk off the shardwine and spent the evening crying in the shower.

So no, Lein Orhe hadn't really like Sur' Kesh either, he decided.

"Mr. Orhe," the VI chimed, interrupting his thoughts as it flickered to life beside his desk.

"What is it now?" he sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"There appears to be a situation on Level Forty-Three."

He picked his head up. "What kind of situation?"

"I do not know, sir. Surveillance footage of the level has ceased."

Lein tapped the fingers of one hand against his desk. _It's that damn volus again. He's up there showing off for that suit-rat, and now they've gone and crossed some wires or something. _"Comm Goran and tell him I want him down here with answers, now."

"I apologize, sir, but attempts to contact the Floor Manager have been unsuccessful."

"What?"

"Attempts to cont-"

Lein waved his hand at the VI. "Yes, yes I heard you the first time." He leaned back in his chair, blinking slowly, and then stood up with a sigh. _This is the final straw, _he thought as he walked over to the elevator and pressed the call button. _I don't care who his uncle is, Goran's not worth the trouble. I'll-_

His train of thought derailed as the doors opened and Lein blinked, taking in the human-turian pair before him. Both were heavily armored and, more pressingly, both had ridiculously large guns held casually before them. He eyed the turian's, wondering if perhaps the scarred merc was compensating for something. Lein blinked again, deciding it safer not to ask, and walked into the elevator. This was Omega, after all; if he skipped an elevator or shuttle every time there was a pair of armed thugs in it, he'd probably still be stuck at the docking bays.

Still, Lein felt a small tingling sensation shiver through him when he saw that the call button for level forty-three was already lit up. He turned his head slightly, looking over his shoulder at the pair behind him. He didn't recognize them, but then again he wasted as little attention as possible on the riff-raff hired on as 'security' for the building so that hardly meant anything. Were they involved in whatever it was Goram was doing up there somehow? He eyed the human, waiting to see if her face jogged anything in his memory. She met his eyes and raised a brow at him.

Lein sniffed and turned around. The elevator _tinged_ softly as they passed a level.

Someone shifted behind him.

_Ting._

Lein blinked.

_Ting._

Someone cleared their throat.

_Ting._

Had the elevator always been this slow?

_Ting. _

Behind him, Lein heard the sound of something metallic clicking.

_Ting._

Why were there guns drawn, anyway?

_Ting. _

Surely they weren't expecting anything dangerous this far up in the tower.

_Ting._

That's what the guards on the lower levels were for.

_Ting._

Nothing could get this high up, not without him knowing anyway.

_Ting._

About time the damn thing-

Something small and round flew through the opening doors, bouncing as it struck the floor. Lein blinked down at it. Was that a-

"Oh, crap." The turian said from behind him.

"Move!" the human shouted as she rammed into Lein, the sudden force knocking the air from his lungs. He crashed onto the floor as she rolled past him. He blinked his eyes, his vision blurred as he tried to push himself up. Lein sniffed, smelling blood somewhere.

"What in the wor-" Something exploded behind him, cutting him off as it sent the salarian sprawling to the ground once again amid a flash of heat and light. His head slammed into something hard and pain darkened his vision. He blinked a couple of times, trying to shake it off, but finally just gave in and let the darkness surround him as one last thought struggled through his mind.

Lein Orhe _hated_ Omega.


	6. Chapter 6: Ghost

Garrus ducked behind a crate, drawing his Mantis close. He scanned the room with his visor; three heartbeats pulsed directly in front of him, and thirty-two degrees to the left of those were another four. Yet another group – a set of two – were fifteen degrees up and over to the right of those, hunkered down on an upper level that encircled the room. Garrus turned his head, searching. He spotted the salarian from earlier, unconscious but alive just beside the elevator. But where was-

Sparks flew inches away from his face as a bullet grazed the crate's metal. Garrus cursed and ducked further down. He took a quick glance at his monitor and then popped around the corner, detonating a quick Overload followed by two pulls of the trigger before retreating back down. One of the heartrates cut off as his bullet found its mark in the owner's right eye, but the other merely spiked as his second bullet took down what was left of the merc's shield. Garrus reloaded as he scanned through the room again, searching for the familiar bio readings he'd somehow missed in his first sweep.

_Damnit, Shepard, where the hell are you?_

Seemingly in answer, a heart rate spiked from the loft-like area in front of him, jumping erratically before abruptly disappearing. He turned his head in its direction, watching through his monitor's thermal readings as a new silhouette raced towards the remaining merc. Garrus exhaled, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he watched Shepard close in on her target. She paused as she came up behind it, placing her gun inches away from the oblivious mercs skull.

A sharp series of _cracks _echoed through the room and the merc's heart rate cut off.

"That's two to one, Garrus. I expected better from Archangel." Shepard's voice crackled in his ear.

Garrus flicked his mandible as he ducked out of his cover and fired, finishing the merc he'd left earlier. "Figured I'd give you a head start, try and make things fair." he said as he knelt back down.  
Shepard laughed, the sound raw and full, and Garrus felt his own pulse quicken in response. "Just try and keep up this time, Vakarian." she almost sang as static fizzed in his ear, telling him she'd reCloaked. "Switching to Cryo ammo."

"Two on your six." Garrus told her as the pair of mercs reached her level. He gave a quick survey of the room, settling on a group of three that had circled around to his right in an attempt to flank him. He doubled over and ran to cover behind another crate, feeling his shield flicker as it held against the enemy's fire. Garrus took in a quick breath and then released it as he stood up and aimed. "Firing Concussive shot!" he yelled, pulling the trigger and sending the modded ammo soaring.

It smashed into the middle merc, taking down his biotic barrier and blasting the entire group into the wall behind them. Garrus took the opportunity, finishing the biotic with a shot to the head before the other two had a chance to shake off their stupor. Then he let loose, whittling down one's shield with four consecutive shots before finally retreating back down behind his own cover. He searched for Shepard as he reloaded.

She'd disappeared from the upper level, leaving two fresh bodies to join the other pair. His eyes darted from the stairs to the ladders that led up to the loft, looking for her thermal readings and finding nothing. He swore inwardly as adrenaline pulsed through him. How the hell was he supposed to watch her back if he couldn't even find the damn thing to begi-

Something _cold _shot past him, close enough that the hide on the good side of his face tingled from the chill. A strangled gurgle followed it and Garrus spun around, gun aimed and his finger hovering over its trigger. He lowered it slightly as he spotted the now ice encased merc just feet away from him, frozen with its own gun raised in his direction. Quick as a breath, another bullet whizzed past Garrus and sent the merc shattering.

"Watch your ass, Garrus." Shepard's voice was hard, any traces of her earlier teasing gone. Later, when they got back to the ship, Garrus knew she'd make a joke out of it all. She'd mock him for his slow reflexes. She'd say he was getting old, tell him he was going soft from sitting in that battery calibrating all the time. But right now, here in the middle of it all, she wasn't that Shepard. She was his commander, and she didn't have time for the friendly jibes. All she had time for was keeping them both alive and making sure there _was_ a later back on the ship.

And Garrus knew this because once he'd been the one saying that very thing. Once, in a different time in a place not unlike this one, he'd been the leader whose only purpose had been to get his men out alive.

He tightened his grip on his Mantis, turning back around and firing a shot into the eye of the shieldless merc. He denoted an Overload on the other one as the first dropped, and then sent his next bullet through the middle of the stunned merc's forehead.

Garrus might have failed his men – his friends – back then, but he would be damned if he failed Shepard.

* * *

Shepard uncloaked as the last merc fell, lowering her gun slowly as she scanned the room for any they might have missed. She'd counted ten mercs when the assault had begun, and she counted ten bodies now when it was over.

"Five to five, Shepard." Garrus' voice said in her ear. She turned her gaze to where he was standing on the lower level of the floor, looking up at her with his head cocked to the side and his rifle held loosely in his hands. "Guess that head-start helped you out after all, hmm."

Her lip twitched. "Not as much as my bullets did you, Vakarian."

Garrus glanced towards the mess of merc and ice behind him. "What that? Come on, Shepard, did you forget you're looking at _the_ Arch-Angel? I knew he was there the whole time."

"Uh-huh."

Shepard collapsed her Widow and rehooked it behind her back as she headed down the flight of stairs beside her. She paused at the end of it, bending down to look at the small pile of corpses behind a nearby group of crates. Three humans, all taken down by headshots. _Smug bastard, _she thought, already imagining the look Garrus would have on his face at his handiwork.

"Admiring the view, Shepard?" Garrus asked, coming up next to her. She glanced up at him form the corner of her eye and bit down a smirk when she saw she really had pegged his expression; mandibles gently spread, showing just a hint of his sharp teeth, and eyes slightly narrowed, the bright blue burning with the intensity of some emotion. _Satisfaction, maybe? Pride?_ "I could give you some pointers, you know. All you have to do is ask."

She narrowed her own eyes. "I didn't see you complaining about my aim when it was saving your ass, Garrus."

His mandibles twitched. "Again with that? And I'm not saying you don't know your way around a gun, Shepard. But there is a certain difference between proficiency and…well, artistry, really."

Shepard rolled her eyes and turned back to the bodies in front of her. The mercs – two women and one man – all wore some sort of armor, but lacked any real cohesion aside from that. The colors and designs were varied, and Shepard could find nothing that even remotely indicated the three had once been united together in merc band. "Whoever these guys are, they're obviously just starting out."

She saw Garrus nod in her peripherals. "Their tactics were sloppy. Didn't look like they were used to fighting in teams."

"New recruits, then?" Shepard's forehead creased with concentration. _The salarian said they'd only been here a couple of days, so unless they brought these guys to Omega with them…_

"That merc must have lied to us, Shepard. There's no way this Ghost guy could have recruited so many new members in just a couple of days, trust me." Garrus said, finishing her thought. She saw his grip tighten on his Mantis and felt her own hand twitch in response.

"And they were waiting for us. Somehow they knew we were coming here." Shepard continued. _Setting all this up must have taken a lot of effort on their part, so why risk it by sending the recruits to catch us?_

_Unless the recruits weren't meant to catch us._

"Garrus," Shepard said, reaching back for her Widow as she began to stand up. "Get re-"

She hissed softly as floodlights blazed to life around them, their intensity stinging her unadjusted eyes. In one motion, swift from habit, she uncollapsed her Widow and reached to activate her Tactical Cloak.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Shepard." a voice called from somewhere above them, "Not unless you want us to pump that turian there with plasma."

Shepard paused, throwing a glance at Garrus. He had his Mantis up and aimed into the white mass of light above them, probably relying more on his visor than his own sight. His eyes met hers for a moment, then he sweeped the room with them before coming back to hers. _They're all around us_, the movement said.

She blinked in acknowledgement and turned her focus to where she'd placed the voice, just above them in the center of the upper landing. It was a vague position, but she was pretty sure the voice was close enough to her target for a Sabotage to work if she was careful. _It'll be risky, but if we move fast enough the explosion should give us-_

"I mean it, Shepard. Try anything and your friend dies." the voice said, making her hesitate as something flickered in the back of her mind. _ I know that voice, _she realized as she narrowed her eyes to try and see past the light. _But where…? _"But then that's never really mattered to you before, has it _Commander_?" the voice continued as a silhouette walked forward, growing clearer with each step.

Shepard felt her breath catch as she recognized the face that looked down at her.

After all, how couldn't she? She'd spent weeks etching every detail of that face – along with the forty-nine others – into her memory after what happened on Akuze, pouring over their personal files again and again and again until her eyes blurred and burned. It was the face that had been in her dreams night after night, broken with fear and pain as it was pulled underground by something as dark and terrifying as a nightmare itself. It was the face whose screams were so loud they'd stayed with her even when she would jerk awake, her body coated with cold sweat and heaving with adrenaline.

It was the face of a dead man who'd never died, a ghost she'd thought she'd finally put to rest years ago.

"Toombs?" she whispered.


	7. Chapter 7: Scars and Medi-gel

"Toombs, is that really you?" Shepard asked, her voice louder this time. There was something else in it, too; an emotion that made the syllables sharp, the words raw. Garrus glanced over at her, ignoring the unease that screamed at him when he took his eyes off the group of armed mercs above them.

Her eyes were opened wide, despite the discomfort the harsh light must have caused her that way, and the lines of hair above them were low and close. The barrel of her gun had fallen slightly so that it no longer pointed directly towards their assailants. He felt his grip on his own gun tighten in response.

_Toombs? _The name was vaguely familiar as he repeated it to himself, yet he couldn't remember why.

"Surprised, Shepard?" Toombs asked as he rubbed a gloved hand across his jaw, scratching at the black hair that littered it. From this far away the man's eyes appeared to be little more than dark pits filled with shadows as they stared down at them. "What, did you think you were the only one who could come back from the dead?"

"Come back from the…? Toombs, what are you even doing here? Are these _your_ men?" Shepard demanded, waving one of her hands towards the bodies in front of her.

Toombs tilted his head slightly, strands of his dark hair shifting in the light like oil as it hovered around his jawline. "Them?" he asked, letting out a brittle laugh. "They were nothing, just some hired thugs out for credits. No, you of all people should know what happened to _my _men, Shepard. Or have you already forgotten all about Akuze?"

Garrus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, keeping his eyes on the merc leader._ Akuze_. _The colony Shepard lost her whole unit on during a Thresher Maw attack. _

It had been years ago, long before Garrus had ever even heard of Shepard, let alone met her. No one had known who she was back then, not really. She'd been just another Alliance marine - fresh out of the academy - when her unit had been sent to investigate the silent colony where her reputation first began. Sole Survivor, the vids called her. The only marine out of fifty to leave the planet alive. She'd still had the scars from it when Garrus had first met her, long and cruel lines that had cut across her cheeks and chin and bit into her smile. They were gone now, of course -no longer visible since her reconstruction - but Garrus saw the way she sometimes went to rub her hand across her them, catching herself when her fingers touched only smooth skin and memories.

"You know I'd never forget that." Shepard denied, taking a step forward. "Toombs, what the hell is going on here?"

"Justice, Shepard." Toombs clasped his hands around the metal railing as he leaned over it. "Justice for crimes that have gone unanswered for far too long."

"Justice?" she repeated, eyes narrowing as she stared up at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me!" he screamed, hands flaring white as they clenched the metal beneath them. He looked away, visibly shaking as he ran a hand through his tangled hair. _This guy's insane, _Garrus thought, tightening his grip on his Mantis as Toombs turned back towards them. "I know all your tricks this time, Shepard. You might have gotten me back on Ontarom when you let your little friend go, but I won't fall for your lies again."

Shepard stiffened as her gun fell slowly to her side.

_Ontarom_. Garrus repeated, the memory coming back to him in series of flashes; _intel from Hackett asking them to investigate the murders of Alliance scientists back during their hunt for Saren; Shepard's shoulders tensing when he revealed the possibility of a cover up, the sharp turn of her head at the mention of Akuze; her eyes burning as she finally learned the truth from a broken man holding a gun to another's head; black hatred scarring her face as she handcuffed the scientist instead of killing him; her soft words to other, the careful touch on his shoulder as she promised she'd make the rogue black ops group Cerberus pay for everything they'd done to them. _

"Toombs...it's not what you think." she said, staring up at him.

"Don't lie to me, Shepard! I've seen the vids, I _know _you're one of them!"

"I'm not-" she stopped, breathing in deep. "Listen, there's more going on here than you know. Just let me-"

"Save it." Toombs cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. He began to pace, taking a couple of steps in one direction before turning back the other way, never completely facing away from her. "I told you I'm on to you; I won't let you talk your way out of this one, not like last time."

"I'm telling you the truth!" Shepard yelled, her voice shaking slightly. Garrus shifted, mandibles flicking as he edged closer to her.

Toombs brushed her protestations away with another wave of his hand. "I've seen your kinds' 'truth', Shepard. I saw it when they unleashed those, those _things _on us, like we were just lab rats to them. For two years I sat in their labs; had their 'truth' _burned_ into my blood, had it stabbed into my arms with needles while your friends experimented on me in ways you could never even _imagine_." He stopped pacing and gestured to the mercs around them. "We all have, every single one of us. Cerberus has made a lot of enemies, Shepard. It's easy to find them when you know what to look for."

"You don't understand." Shepard said, shaking her head slightly as she took a step forward. "Cerberus isn't-"

"Don't you _dare _defend them to me, Shepard!" he screamed, spittle flying from his lips as he ran back to the railing and pulled something from a holster on his back. Garrus' body tensed as Toombs leveled the grenade launcher at Shepard. "After what they've done to me, _to my men?_ Don't you dare!"

Shepard froze. Garrus shifted slightly in response, moving closer to her. His muscles hummed with adrenaline and apprehension.

"I'd never defend what they did to us, Toombs." she said, her words so quiet Garrus almost missed them.

"To _us?_" Toombs laughed, the sound harsh and cruel against her soft words. "There is no _us_, Shepard. There's only me, me and the _Cerberus_ scum that killed my men."

"Toombs, don't-"

He pulled the trigger.

Garrus leaped.

* * *

Shepard braced herself for the hit.

Shock jolted through her when the expected force came not in an explosion of fire but instead from the side as a heavy mass crashed into her. She rolled into the fall as she hit the ground, her motion taking her further away. Less than a second later the explosion finally came, the heat crashing over her like a wave. Still, she was far enough away from the main blast that it didn't manage to cause any real damage. She coughed, choking on the smoke, and looked over at the prone body that lay where she'd been just moments before.

"Garrus!" she yelled, scrambling up despite the screams of protest that came from her battered body. She pulled her Widow close as she ran to him, blinking away the burning sensation in her seared eyes.

"Shepard's alive!" someone shouted above them.

"Get her!" another cried.

"No, stop! Shepard's mine!"

"Shoot her!"

"I said _stop_!"

_Damnit! _Shepard turned slightly, raising her gun and taking aim as best she could through her watery vision. Relying as much on memory as on sight, she shot towards the cluster of oxygen tanks she'd seen during their fight earlier, following the round with a swiftly detonated Sabotage.

The upper level exploded.

Shepard reached Garrus, hovering over his still form as a wave of sick deja-vu coursed through her. Panic choked her as she stared down at him, unsure of where to check in order to find a pulse. The hide on his neck was too thick for her to look there she realized as her hand fluttered uselessly over it. Did turians even have a major vein there like humans did? How much blood could they lose before going into shock? Dammit, what was the point of him wearing such heavy armor if it didn't even-

She stopped herself, breathing in deep. Sounds of movement were trickling down from the upper level; she didn't have the time to lose control like this.

"C'mon, Garrus, don't die on me here." She said, hauling him up. Her voice cracked over the words. "Think of all the calibrating you've still got to do."

Relief squeezed her chest at the strangled gasp that came from him as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He coughed, wheezing as she pulled him forward towards a door she'd seen earlier, directly across from the elevator and beneath the loft.

"Damn, you're a heavy bastard, Garrus. What do they put in those dextro bars?" she rambled as her eyes scanned above them for signs of pursuit. The upper level was masked in a haze of smoke, but she could see vague outlines of shifting bodies picking themselves up. Shepard walked faster, trying to be as gentle as possible. She didn't let herself think about how slick his armor was underneath her grip, or how ragged his breathing was in her ear. "What, no come back? I'm disappointed, Vakarian."

"Where is she?" Toombs cried from above her as she pulled Garrus into cover underneath the loft. "Someone find Shepard, _now_!"

"I see them! They're down there!" a voice called as Shepard reached the door. Mercifully, it opened at her touch, and she carried Garrus inside. Her pulse pounded with the sound of approaching footsteps as she lowered him against the nearby wall, her movements achingly slow as she tried to avoid causing any further damage. Once he was down, she turned back and swiftly shut the door, closing it with a sharp _hiss_ on the clutch of mercs that were now only feet away. Gunfire clanged against the metal as she used her omni-tool to bypass the door's security, locking it tight behind her.

"What are you all standing around for!" Toombs voice shouted from the other side, muffled through the wall. "Go in after her!"

"We can't, sir! She's locked the door!"

"So unlock it then, you idiots!"

"But, sir…"

"_But what_?"

"Well…usually Tech handles this kind of -" The voice was cut off by a low _thud_, followed by a groan.

"_I want this door open_ _now!"_

Shepard bent down over Garrus, bringing her omni-tool up close over him. It's amber glow was the only light in the other-wise dark room - the windows behind them shuttered and useless – and she used it to finally get a look at his injuries; the explosion had blown a hole the size of her head into the right side of his armor, which had automatically attempted to repair itself by covering the area with a thin level of medi-gel to prevent further blood loss and infection. Shepard leaned in closer to look at the wound and felt her throat clench as she breathed in the smell of burnt carapace.

"What, is this it?" Shepard said softly, releasing a fresh dose of medi-gel onto the wound. Garrus hissed in a sharp breath as the more potent anesthetic worked its way through his system. "This is barely a scratch compared to that thing you call a face."

"Pardon…me." he gasped, the words weak with pain. Still, his breathing steadied even as she watched, and Shepard's heart thumped with a sudden and intense rush of love for the scientists at Sirta who had first invented medi-gel.

"What the hell were you thinking, Garrus?" she demanded as she put her hand against his cheek, turning his face towards hers so she could check his eyes; the bright blue – always so intense as it took in everything around them - was all but invisible against his dilated pupils.

"Wasn't." Garrus coughed and the feeling of mandibles flicking underneath her hand sent a strange warmth up her arm. She pulled her hand away and turned to look at their surroundings. The small room was an office apparently, with a large desk occupying the center. Two chairs placed in front of it and another behind were the only other furnishings, aside from a few potted plants scattered around. The entire back wall was made up of windows, all of which had their blinds drawn and secured.

Shepard's omni-tool beeped, alerting her that her bypass on the door was failing. Her eyes narrowed; they had to get out of here, and soon. She looked up from her omni-tool and stared at the windows.

She bit her lip.

"Shepard?" Garrus asked from behind her. His voice sounded stronger, and again Shepard silently thanked whoever it was that had created that miracle gel. _If I ever find out who they are, I'll buy them a drink for every life under my command they've saved,_ she thought as she went back to Garrus.

"How bad is it?" she asked, crouching down next to him. His eyes were clearer now, and his breathing wasn't as shallow as before.

"I'll live." he said, wincing as she helped him up, once again wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He leaned heavily against her as she led him to the back of the room, putting the desk between them and the door. His mandibles flicked as her omni-tool beeped in alarm. "So…what's the plan, Commander?"

Shepard paused and turned her face to his, only inches away. _Is he up to it?_

Her omni-tool beeped again.

_No choice._

Slowly, she stepped away from him, giving him time to adjust to supporting his own weight. When she was sure he wasn't going to collapse, Shepard raised her gun and shot out the center window. Sounds and light burst into the room as the glass shattered, and she walked closer to the edge. Omega lay before her, a mass of dark buildings lit by the glow of neon signs and the lights of passing shuttles. It was these shuttle lights that Shepard watched now, tracking the traffic with her eyes as it passed some twenty feet beneath them.

Garrus mandibles twitched. "You've got to be joking."

"Just gotta trust me, Garrus." Shepard said, reaching her hand out towards him. _I won't let him die here, _she promised silently. _Not because of me. _

Something inside her clenched when Garrus took her hand in his own without a moment's hesitation. His eyes met hers, and the sensation repeated itself as they held each other's gaze. His hand was warm as he stepped up beside her and Shepard turned back to the river of shuttles beneath them.

She waited.

Her omni-tool beaped.

His grip tightened slightly.

Behind them, the door opened with a quiet _hiss._

Together, Shepard and Garrus jumped.


	8. Chapter 8: Falling

Two thoughts went through Garrus Vakarian's head as he jumped:

The first was that, in all likelihood, this was it. He was going to die.

The second, and strangely more pressing, was how incredibly _small_ Shepard's hand felt inside his own.

It was a ridiculous thing to think about considering these were probably his last moments. If anything, he should be thinking about his family; about his mother, who would be sitting in bed, waiting for a call from him that would never come; or about Solana, and how strong she would try to act to keep their already broken family from falling apart completely; or even his father, and all the things they'd never been able to say each other. There were so many things Garrus should have been thinking of in that moment as he fell through the Omega sky.

And yet all he could focus on was Shepard's hand.

A small, sane piece of him rationalized this new obsession as a symptom of near-death mania mixed with the excess of medi-gel in his system. After all, it made sense logically that Shepard's hands were smaller than his; nearly everything about humans was stunted compared to his own species, and it only took a glance to see the easily notable size differences between him and her. So, really, part of him had always known her hands were smaller than his, technically speaking.

But there was a difference in knowing something to be true, and then _knowing _something as true. It was one thing to know his hands were naturally larger than hers, and another to feel that knowledge pressed warm against his palm; to feel the way her fingers curled around his, somehow fitting perfectly despite their differences; to feel how gentle they were as they gripped his own; to realize that, despite all the lives they'd saved and the countless more that they still held, Shepard's hands really were just as small and fragile as any other human's.

And for some reason that thought terrified Garrus even more dying did.

* * *

Shepard breathed in deep, bracing for the hit.

It came fast. One instant she'd been falling, the cold air cutting her face and Garrus' warm hand squeezing her own. The next she was smashed against the hard metal, her breath choking in her throat and her body clenching with shock.

She bent her knees and kept them loose to absorb the brunt force of the impact, landing feet down with her free hand spread out against to the shuttle to steady her stance. Her body jerked with inertia, dragging at her as it tried to roll her off and back into the air. She steadied herself, however, gripping tight to a protruding piece of metal as her suit's mag boots did the same beneath her.

Garrus slammed down beside her, mirroring her pose. His mandibles flared as he hit and his free hand shot up to clutch at his wound. The motion unbalanced him and, quick as a breath, he fell forward, sliding off the shuttle and into the churning air below. A flash of pain burned into Shepard's arm as it was yanked down by his weight, yet somehow she managed to keep her hold on his hand. She bit her lip and felt her forehead crease with strain as the muscles in her shoulder shuddered. He wrapped his other hand around her forearm as the shuttle turned beneath them, the sharp movement pitching him around as he swung to the side.

Shepard clenched her teeth and pulled. Once in reach, Garrus grasped the side of the shuttle and heaved himself up. He fell into a crouch beside her, mandibles twitching as he gasped for air.

"You okay?" Shepard yelled, the rushing air pulling at her words.

"Mostly." he shouted back with a tilted nod. He grabbed hold of the same metal she was using and steadied himself. "Now what?"

"I don't know, didn't think that far." Shepard admitted as she rolled her shoulder, wincing at the tingling sensation that still prickled in it. Garrus choked on a laugh at her words and she added, "Hey, we're alive aren't we?"

His mandibles twitched as he looked over the edge of the shuttle. "For now."

"Gotta take the victories where you can, Vaka-" Shepard began, cutting off as a muffled scream reached them. They turned their heads towards the front of the shuttle, where an asari woman had poked her head out of the passenger side door and was looking back at them. She shouted something, quickly ducked back in, and then slammed the door behind her.

Shepard and Garrus looked at each other.

"Well, you wanted a way down." she yelled, the corner of her lip curling slightly. Garrus stared at her.

A second later the shuttle dropped into a panicked dive.

They clung to the metal as wind and vertigo clutched at them. Shepard's hair whipped into her face, the stray strands pinching at her skin and forcing her eyes shut. Nausea rose up in her throat as they fell faster than she'd have thought a commercial shuttle could, and maybe it was just her but Shepard would have sworn they were even spinning a little. Not that she dared open her eyes to check, though. _I'm going to be sick, _she thought as her throat clenched, _and then the wind's going to throw it back in my face. Or Garrus'._

The image of the battle-scarred turian splattered in leftover calamari gumbo – looking every bit like a wet cat, minus the flared mandibles – choked her, and she let out a strangled laugh. Another one followed, and then another, and then before she knew it Shepard was laughing harder than she had in years. Tears formed in her eyes and she finally opened them, her nausea all but gone as she threw her head back and laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it all; here she was - the 'great' Commander Shepard, hero of the galaxy and zombie extraordinaire – clinging to some poor bastard's shuttle in the middle of Omega after jumping out of a building in order to escape the revenge driven 'ghost' who'd hunted her down on a damn _shopping_ trip_._ And to top it all off, now she'd almost puked all over herself _and _her best friend.

Because, she realized as she turned to him and saw the look of absolute bewilderment on his face at her sudden fit of laughter, that's who Garrus was to her. Somehow, without her knowing, this patient, bitter, all around snarky alien had become the person she trusted most in the entire galaxy. And, as she saw in his mandibles flick and heard the low rumble that was his laugh join her own, Shepard appreciated him more in that moment than she ever had before.

* * *

"Sorry again for the trouble." Shepard apologized, rubbing the back her neck with a hand.

"Oh, not at all Spectre! We're just glad we could be of use to you." the dark blue asari said, her voice much calmer now, for which Garrus was unbelievably grateful for. The headache the asari's screams had given him when they'd first landed had yet to leave, and he leaned wearily against the shuttle while Shepard talked to its owners. It had taken them a few moments to calm down enough to listen to her, of course, but Garrus had learned early on that Shepard had a certain way of dominating a conversation. Throwing out the phrase 'Council Spectre' had also helped a great deal with soothing the two asari's shattered nerves.

"Definitely," the other one agreed as she took a step closer to Shepard, taking her free hand in hers and giving her a slow smile. "And if there's anything else you need – _anything _at all– I'd be more than happy to help you, Commander."

Garrus coughed as his mandibles twitched.

Shepard gave her a smile and casually pulled her hand back. "I appreciate the offer, but you've already done more than enough for us."

"Are you sure? We could give you a ride to somewhere safer," the asari continued, eyes half-lidded. "Do you have somewhere to stay?"

"We'll be fine, but thanks again for the help. I should go." Shepard said, giving them a final nod before meeting Garrus' eyes. He stifled a groan as he straightened up and followed after her. The asari had landed atop a public shuttle garage in a part of Omega Garrus wasn't very familiar with, and he looked around as Shepard led him towards a nearby console; judging from the buildings – which were shorter and wider than the towering one they'd escaped from – they'd managed to clear the warehouse district completely in their flight. Aside from that, however, he really had no idea where they were, and his eyes narrowed in frustration.

"What now, Shepard?" Garrus asked as she walked up the terminal.

"We still need those parts for the Normandy," she said, glancing over at him as she typed in a request for a cab. The wild look in her eyes as they'd clutched to the shuttle was gone now, replaced instead with the more familiar calm intensity they usually held.

"So what, we go back to the warehouse?" He felt the hastily patched wound in his side throb at the idea.

"And let you pull another stupid stunt like that last one?" she asked, brows lowering dangerously. "Just exactly how many rockets to the face do you think you can get away with, Garrus?"

"Well, technically that last one was a grenade, not a rocket." he answered slowly. "And it didn't hit my face either, so-"

"This isn't a joke, Vakarian." Shepard pressed, taking a step towards him. Her face was dark with anger, but he didn't back away. Nor did he fail to notice the tension in her body as she glared up at him, her shoulders stiff and her mouth straight. Garrus was walking a thin line with her now. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Of course not, Commander." he said, keeping voice calm against her sudden intensity. What had brought this on? "If I wanted to do that I'd just join up on a suicide mission."

Her eyes narrowed. This was when a good turian would buckle and listen to his commander, but Garrus had always said he wasn't a good turian. And as much as he respected Shepard, he couldn't bring himself to apologize for what he knew she thought was a reckless mistake. After all, she was still alive, wasn't she? They'd both seen how dangerous the galaxy was – hell, it'd already succeeded in killing her once – and _someone _had to be the one to watch her back, whatever it took.

For a long moment, the two stared at each other as each refused to give away and a heavy silence grew between them. It continued, stretching uninterrupted aside from the sound of their mingled breathing, until it was finally broken by the arrival of their cab. Shepard turned away as it landed in a free slot nearby them and walked over to it. Garrus exhaled, scratching at his scars, and followed after her like he always did.


	9. Chapter 9: Insubordination

It was quiet in the cab.

Garrus leaned back into his seat, and the soft synthetic material molded around him. The comfort was a surprisingly nice change from the Kodiack's metal benches. Especially so now, when every sudden movement made his wound itch with pain. He'd never admit it, of course – and definitely not to Shepard – but the truth was his injury was beginning to take its toll on him. At first, the high dosage of medi-gel had worked wonders and he'd been able to ignore the ache in his side. But the anesthetic had slowly worn off over the past half-hour since jumping out of that damn window, and what was left of it did little to keep the throbbing away. He rested a hand gingerly over his side as the burning sensation grew.

Shepard caught the movement, her head turning towards him. "How is it?"

Garrus glanced over at her. It was the first thing she'd said since they'd gotten in the shuttle. "I've had worse." he answered with a small shrug. He winced as his side protested against the movement.

"Uh huh." Shepard said as her omni-tool flicked to life. She leaned over towards him, and a blissful numbness spread over his injury as she applied more medi-gel to it.

"Thanks." he said, sub harmonics radiating his gratitude as he stretched slightly.

"Don't overdo it," Shepard cautioned. "The medi-gel doesn't fix everything. We'll still need to have Chakwas look you over when we get back."

"Right, I'll try to avoid anything too stressful. Like excess stretching or jumping out of buildings."

Her brow lowered at his joke. The silence returned, but at least this time around it felt a little more comfortable as it settled between them. Garrus stared out the window, watching the buildings flick by as copper blurs. The direction they were going in could take them back to the market district they usually went to, theoretically. Or was Shepard taking to them back to the Kodiack? Was she planning to leave Omega and try their luck elsewhere? That last one seemed unlikely, but he considered it anyway since he had little else to go on at this point. She'd told him nothing so far, and Garrus hadn't asked.

His mind drifted back to their tense words just before the cab had arrived. It'd been a long time since he'd argued like that with Shepard, if you could even call that short conversation an argument. Not since they'd been aboard the original _Normandy_, really. His mandibles twitched as the long nights debating morality over results in the ship's hanger came back to him, the smell of gun oil and metal ghosting through his thoughts.

Garrus glanced over at her, taking in her tense posture; back straight as she leaned forward, hands clasped together with her elbows resting on her knees. Her eyes were intense as they stared at the empty space before her, forehead creased with her thoughts. Was she planning their next move? Inventing some new plan that would somehow inevitably fix all of their problems? Or was she still thinking about what had gone down at that warehouse?

Suddenly, as if mirroring his thoughts, Shepard exhaled slowly and said, "Listen, Garrus. About what happened with Toombs…" She turned to face him and Garrus braced himself for the lecture. "I'm sorry."

He blinked. That was unexpected. "Commander?"

"Going into that warehouse without proper back-up was reckless." she said. "I put you in unnecessary danger."

Garrus scratched at his scars. "'Unnecessary danger' is kind of a daily thing for us, Shepard."

"Not like that, it isn't." She shook her head slightly and looked down at her hands. "I should have contained the situation when I had the chance, but I didn't. And as a result, you got injured fixing my mistake."

Garrus stared at her, at a loss. He cleared his throat to buy himself some time, and then finally said, "You said it yourself, Shepard; everyone makes mistakes. And besides, I'm fine" – she shot him a disbelieving look from the corner of her eyes and he added – "I am, really. A little more scars than I had before, maybe, but it just adds to my charm."

Shepard chuckled softly, so he marked that one down as partial win if nothing else. "I'm sure Zaeed would agree with you on that." She paused for a few moments, and then added quietly, "I should have seen this coming."

"No one could have known Toombs would come after you like that, Commander."

Her hands clenched at the sound of his name. "But that's just it, I _did _know. I got a message from him telling me he'd heard I was working for Cerberus. He actually _told_ me he'd do this if we ever saw each other again and I just…" She sighed and her head sagged slightly. "I should have prepared for this."

His mandibles twitched while he tried to process the new information. "Ah…" _Ah? Really, Vakarian?_ He tried again. "Not even you can control everything. Your people have a saying about it, I think. Something like, 'you're only human'?"

She laughed, but the sound was empty. "Am I, though?" she asked, gazing at her hands as she flexed them. "Who knows what Cerberus did to bring me back, what they put in me? I sure as hell don't." Her hands clenched into fists and she paused. "Maybe Toombs was right after all. Maybe we really are just a couple of ghosts who should have died when we had the chance."

Garrus hesitated, uncertain how to respond. Shepard was the one who did the comforting, the one who always knew just what to say in situations like this. She was the leader who pulled all the rest of them up when they fell, not him. What could he do for her that she couldn't do herself?

The one thing he'd always done, he realized; have her back, no matter what. And if right now that meant fighting off her self-doubt instead of her enemies, then that's what Garrus would do.

He reached his hand out before he changed his mind and cautiously rested it on her shoulder. Shepard startled slightly at the gentle pressure, turning her face back to his. The physical contact felt awkward out of combat, but it was too late to pull back now. "Shepard, listen…I don't know about Cerberus or the Illusive Man, but for what it's worth I'm glad they did what they did to bring you back. We've both seen the Collectors and what they can do. And we both know you're the only person in this whole damn galaxy that can stop them. And if that's not enough to prove you're you, well, just know that I've never doubted it. Not once."

Silence followed his words. Shepard stared at him, her eyes slightly wider than normal, and Garrus found himself acutely aware of how heavy his hand felt upon her shoulder. He felt the urge to pull it back, but hesitated. He wasn't sure on the proper protocol for how long such touches were supposed to last for humans. Would she take offense somehow if he did so now? Better to wait then, he decided as he ignored the way the suddenly tense muscles in his arm twinged.

Eventually, after a long moment, Shepard cleared her throat lightly. He took that as the sign he'd been waiting for and took his hand back as she lowered her head back down. The motion caused her hair to fall across her face, covering it like a shield flickering suddenly to life. "Thank you, Garrus. That means…it means a lot." She cleared her throat again and sat up straight. "And you're right. The Collectors _are_ out there. It we're going to have any chance against them there's no room for second-guessing. I need to put this behind me, one way or another."

Garrus nodded. "Whatever happens, I'm with you, Commander." Abruptly, he felt his center of gravity shift as the shuttle tilted and began to descend. His mandibles flicked and he took the opportunity to change the topic to something lighter. "So…where _are_ we going, anyway?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed as she looked out the window. "To the one person who can give me some answers around here."

* * *

Aria sipped her drink, looking over the datapad.

Few things affected Omega. People came, went, fought, died; none of it mattered. The majority of them weren't even worth the effort of noticing, really, but Aria kept tabs on them all anyway. It was one of the main reasons she'd held control for as long as she had, and why she would continue to do so. Still, she tried to waste as little of her time on such meaningless things as possible. After all, they did well enough keeping each other in check all by themselves. That whole mess with Archangel had proven that.

Which brought her back to the point that every now and then something – or some_one_, rather, did come around that was just big enough to actually be worth the attention she gave it. Like that Shepard, for instance. A dead Spectre showing up had been merely intriguing at first, but the woman had proven to be far more useful than Aria originally expected. Not only had the Commander's little rescue mission dug up some interesting intel Aria's own lackeys had somehow managed to miss, but while she was at it Shepard had also gone on and decimated the three strongest merc groups on the station – saving Aria the trouble of eventually having to do it herself when the bastards got too cocky and tried to overreach themselves. Not to mention that the ensuing chaos that had spread among the three since then was doing all the work for her and more, if the information she was looking at now was anything to go by.

The Blood Pack had taken the loss of their leader the hardest, apparently. Almost as soon as that idiot Garm had hit the ground the infighting for a new leader had started. Expected, really, considering their recruitment standards. According to her report it seemed that some vorcha named Kreete was posed to come out on top, and Aria's eyes narrowed at the thought. She'd have to find a more suitable successor for Garm, one more…amiable to her demands. For now, though, better to let the vermin play their little games. She'd step in when the right opportunity presented itself.

What was more pressing, however, was this situation with the Talons. The red sand dealers had always been a thorn in her side, but now they were pushing her patience to its limits. The group had begun increasing their territory in the last few weeks, taking advantage of their sudden lack of competition. Aria had no real problem with that by itself, although their growing arrogance did piss her off. No, the real issue here was that the group had stopped sending Aria her cut of their profits. The damn turians seemed to think they were above Omega's one rule, but no one fucked with Aria and got away with it. She'd send Liselle to remind them of that personally.

"Ma'am?"

Aria didn't look up from the datapad.

Grizz coughed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in her peripherals. She took another sip from her glass, savoring the liquor's strong flavor, and then dragged her eyes over to him. He stilled. "That human Shepard's arrived in Afterlife, ma'am."

_Speak of the devil, _she thought, swirling the liquid in her glass. Aria wasn't surprised, however. She'd been notified Shepard was on the station the moment the Spectre's shuttle had reached hailing distance of it, and they both knew that whatever it was Shepard was on Omega for, Aria was the who'd have it. It had just been a matter of time before the Commander showed up at her doorstep.

Aria tossed the datapad aside – where it was immediately picked up by Grizz – and crossed her legs. She trailed a finger along the top of her glass.

"You look like shit." she commented when Shepard arrived moments later.

"Nice to see you too." Shepard greeted, arching one of her singed eyebrows. Aria tiled her head slightly towards a nearby seat and the Commander took the invitation. This close up Aria could see the thin layer of dirt – or was that ash? – that coated Shepard's face and the light pink tint of the skin underneath, indicating minor burns.

"I'm sure it is." Aria replied and then took a long sip from her drink. "What do you want?"

"I need information on a human who goes by the handle 'Ghost'." she answered. She sat forward and tucked a strand of hair, dark with dried sweat, behind her ear.

"Looking to add another one to your suicide squad?" Aria asked, tossing a lazy glance over at the turian who stood off to the side. Amazingly, he looked even worse off than Shepard did, with various shades of dried blood coating his ragged armor and an ugly mess of a wound in his side. Still, the turian stood tall, and Aria saw the way his eyes flicked around the room consistently. _This one doesn't miss a thing, _she noted, watching the way his hands hovered near his holster.

"Not exactly." Shepard replied, drawing Aria's attention back to her. "What do you know about him?"

Aria leaned back into her seat. "The man's ex-Alliance, CAT-6. He showed up here a couple of weeks ago with about a dozen followers and has done some light recruiting since. Kept his group quiet for the most part, stayed away from any of the serious players. Apparently the only thing he's interested in is Cerberus blood." she added, giving Shepard a side-long look.

"Any idea where I can find him?" Shepard asked, lacing her fingers together.

Aria swirled the liquor in her glass idly. "He's got a place set up in the Kenzo district. Some run down hell hole, no doubt. I'll have one of my men send you the co-ordinates."

Shepard nodded. "Thanks, I'd appreciate that."

"You should." Aria replied, turning her slightly. "Now is there anything else?"

"Actually, there is." she said, opening up her omni-tool. "My ship's run into some trouble, and I need to pick these parts up before I leave. Think you can help with that?"

Aria narrowed her eyes. "What the hell do you think I am? Some piece of shit merchant? Go to the market and do your own damn shopping."

"Tried that already. It didn't exactly end well." Shepard said, rubbing her face lightly. "I'll make it worth your while if you can get those parts for me."

Aria took a long, slow drink from her glass and then set the empty cup aside. "Fine. But you'll owe me for this, Shepard."

"Looking forward to it," Shepard replied lightly as she stood up. She turned her head. "Garrus, I want you to stay here until the parts show up. When they do, take them to the Kodiack and wait there until I get back."

The turian shifted and took a step closer. "You're joking."

Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Don't argue, Garrus."

"You can't seriously expect me to let you go after Toombs alone." he demanded, mandibles snapping against his face.

"I expect you to do what I tell you to, Vakarian." Shepard answered, her voice low and tight as she stepped towards him.

"You'll have to forgive me for the insubordination then, because it's not happening."

"Damnit, Vakarian, I'm giving you an order as your-"

"And I'm telling you I can't just leave you like that, orders or no." He interrupted, holding her gaze as he lowered his voice. "Not in this place, Shepard. You need me."

_Well, _Aria thought as she watched them stare at one another. _There's something unexpected._

After a moment, Shepard exhaled tightly. "Fine. Go get us a cab." she ordered, turning away from him and walking back towards Aria. The turian left without another word. "Aria-"

She waved her hand, cutting Shepard off. "I'll send the parts to your shuttle bay. Might as well play delivery boy while I'm already serving as your damn vendor."

"Thanks." Shepard nodded. "I should go."

"Right. Oh, and Shepard?" Aria called after her. She waited until the Spectre's eyes met her own. "Glad to see you took my advice about finding a nice young man to keep you company. I guess that Citadel vid got some things right about you after all."

Aria smirked at expression that flashed across Shepard's face before the Commander turned and left.


	10. Chapter 10: Blind

Today was just not Shepard's day.

Granted, it wasn't the worst one she had ever had. There was always that time she had actually died, after all. And also that day when she had _almost_ died back on Akuze. And then again later on after that on Eden Prime, then Ilos, Feros, Virmire, the Citadel…

She shifted in her seat. So no, this wasn't the worst day Shepard had ever had. But it was definitely trying to be. She ran a gloved hand across her face, wishing the action could wipe away more than just the dried sweat and dirt. Her eyes drifted over to the window next to her. The cab Garrus had hailed for them was a newer model, sleek and fast as it sped through Omega, and the buildings outside flicked by quicker than she could count. At this rate it wouldn't be long before they reached Toombs' base.

The shuttle's thin synthetic leather squeaked as Garrus shifted in his own seat beside her. The muscles on the back of her hand twitched in response, surprising her, and Shepard clenched the offending hand into a fist. _It's just because you want to punch him for his insubordination back at Afterlife, _she told herself. _Like you did to Zaeed that time on Zorya._

Yes, that was it. It was anger that made her body hum with tension as she did her best to ignore the turian next to her; anger that made her so suddenly aware of his presence – just mere inches away – and the heat she swore she could feel radiating off of him. It definitely had absolutely nothing to do with the comment Aria had made just before Shepard had left the club, or the thoughts that had spawned like varren inside her head since then.

She swallowed. No, that had just been Aria getting revenge on Shepard for making her play 'delivery boy'. A stupid joke, really. _She hadn't seriously meant anything by it_, Shepard reasoned as she leaned forward and braced her elbows on her knees. Everyone knew there was nothing like that between Garrus and her. She was his commander after all, maybe even a mentor to him. Not to mention a human. Of course he'd never see her in _that _way.

Not, that is, that she wanted him too. She certainly didn't feel like that about him. Sure it was true that Garrus was important to her – he was her best friend after all; her constant comrade on missions, his rifle raised and ready as he covered her six as naturally as if it were his own; her escape on the nights when the silence and dreams grew too loud for sleep, his voice warm and grounding while they talked about nothing and everything as the hours passed like minutes– but wasn't that always how it was with the bond that formed between crewmates? Besides, Shepard had never once claimed to have a thing for aliens, despite what that damn Citadel vid said about her. And even if she did – which she didn't – was it even possible for a turian and a human to…?

Shepard laced her fingers together, retreating from the dangerous thought. No, Aria's comment had been completely off base. Garrus and Shepard were just friends, and that was just the way she wanted it.

…Wasn't it?

* * *

Garrus' omni-tool beeped, alerting him that they were nearing the drop point Aria's co-ordinates had led them to. He tapped a talon against his leg, thinking, and his eye caught the way Shepard's hands twitched slightly at the sound. _Looks like she hasn't exactly forgiven me for Afterlife, after all, _he thought, remembering the brittle glint he'd seen in her eyes when he'd refused her order to leave. His mandibles clenched quietly against his face; when this was all over and done, he'd have one hell of a debrief with her waiting for him back on the Normandy.

His omni-tool beeped again, reminding him his impending reprimands and possible beating could wait until later. He cleared his throat. "Commander?"

"What is it?" Her voice twinged with an emotion Garrus couldn't quite identify. Anger? Annoyance? Spirits, why did humans have to have such flat voices? It made deciphering their emotions so much harder.

"We're getting pretty close to the coordinates Aria gave us. ETA about ten minutes now." he said, glancing over at her.

It was almost amazing, watching the transformation she went through in the next few seconds. He had seen it almost more times that he could count over the long months they had spent together, but it was still fascinating to him how quickly her entire bearing could suddenly shift; one moment she had been hunched over, her body rigid and her face creased with her thoughts, and then the next it all just drifted away. There was no single overt action that gave away the change either as he watched her, but rather a thousand little ones; her hands stayed clasped together like before, but they no longer grasped at one another as if desperate for something to distract them from their idleness; her heart rate in his visor quickened, and her next breath came out long and clean; her eyebrows lifted as she blinked, her eyes suddenly bright inside the dim cab. He could almost feel the determination that radiated out from her in that moment. This was the Commander they told stories about, the woman who had saved an entire galaxy almost single-handily and planned on doing it again.

This was the woman Garrus respected more than anyone else.

_And I went and pissed her off,_ he thought as his mandibles twitched slightly.

"What do we know so far?" she asked, looking over at him.

He pushed the thought from his head and opened up his omni-tool. "Not much," he admitted as he sifted through the information Aria had given them. "We've got the location and few estimates of their numbers, but that's about it."

Shepard nodded and opened up her own omni-tool to a map of the area. "Are you familiar with this Kenzo District?"

Garrus felt his mandibles pull tight against his face. "A little, yeah." Shepard tossed him a glance, raising one of her brows. It was almost as if she really _could _understand his sub-harmonics, human or not. She never missed a thing, regardless of what she thought about herself.

"Something I should know?"

"It's nothing, Commander."

"Garrus."

_Spirits_, he thought as he tapped a talon against his leg. She was a like varren sometimes, always asking questions, always picking at things. "I went there a few times with my squad. Nothing heavy. Mostly raids, get in-get out. It was Blood Pack territory back then and we didn't have the forces to take them on."

"And?"

He looked away and tapped his talon again, a little harder this time. "And nothing. The last time I went there was a couple of days before you showed up. Sidonis comm'd me and said the Blood Pack had pulled a fast one on him and he needed back up." He left it there, but the memory of that day played on in his head; he remembered rushing through the streets, the hitch he had heard in Sidonis' voice edging him to go faster; he remembered finding nothing - no trace of Sidonis or the guns - and the way the truth had crashed into him like a krogan; he remembered praying for the first time in years as he clutched his gun close to him and ran back to his squad's base; and more than anything else, Garrus remembered getting there too late.

His hand curled into fist.

A minute passed, maybe two, before Shepard broke the silence and said "I see."

And the damn thing was, Garrus thought as he turned back to her and found her eyes watching him, he knew she really did. She saw it all so easily, while Garrus himself could do nothing but fumble in the dark, blind and helpless.

"I guess it's a good thing you're here after all then." she continued, giving him that familiar crooked smile. "I won't have to go in blind."

Garrus blinked at her words, so similar to his own thoughts and yet so different. He cleared his throat. "Yeah. Glad I can help, Commander."

She held his gaze for a moment longer before turning back to her omni-tool. "So, got any intel on this building they're in?" she asked, looking it over on her screen.

He scratched his scars with his hand as he looked over hers as well. "Nothing aside from what you already have. Just these scans of the general layout." He paused for a moment as they studied the screen before them."You know, I think EDI's spoiled us. If we were in range of the Normandy she'd have gotten us the blueprints and best infiltration routes before we'd even asked."

Shepard's eyebrows rose up in agreement. "Never thought I'd miss an AI, that's for sure. I guess we'll be plotting our own entrance strategy this time around."

"Looks like it." Garrus said and then pointed with a talon to the top floor of the three-story building. " Toombs will probably be somewhere up here. He'll be expecting us, and that would be the best place to set up a defense. It gives him sight lines here and here for snipers to pick us off before we can get too close."

Shepard nodded. "Chances are his mercs will be spread across the lower levels to try and slow us down too. Estimates on their numbers?"

"Aria's numbers place them at over two dozen, but likely no more than forty all together. Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure."

"No doubt. It looks like there's a main entrance here, and that'll probably be where the bulk of the first wave will be. Slipping in through here, though," Shepard said as she pointed to the back side of the building, where it dropped off into a balcony and reached out into the Omega sky. "Would put us right at their backs."

"We'd flank them and take the bastards by surprise." Garrus nodded. "The shuttle could probably get in close enough for us to climb up over the railing without them seeing if it stays low enough."

"My thoughts exactly. From there we should be able to clear the place out level by level, that way there won't be any stragglers who can sneak up behind us."

Garrus looked up at her. "And then?" His mandibles flicked. "How do you want to handle Toombs when we find him?"

Her jaw tensed slightly and she closed the omni-tool, throwing a sudden shadow over her face as the amber light disappeared. "Just watch my back, Garrus. I'll take care of Toombs myself."

He nodded. "Understood, Commander."

* * *

**A/N: So here it is, finally! I'm _so_ sorry this chapter took me over a month to get up on here. Mid-terms and work made things crazy busy, and then I just had the hardest damn time writing this part for some reason. (I swear I must have rewritten the beginning like five times before I finally figured how I wanted it to go.) Still, I shouldn't have let it take this long, so I really am sorry about that. Also, I'm sorry I didn't get back to any the reviews for the last chapter yet either, and I'll go get on that right after I'm done here. And that's it really, so I hope you guys enjoy and I promise I'll do my best to make sure it this doesn't happen again, honest.**


	11. Chapter 11: Distractions

"And that's all we've got," Jeroth reported, then after a brief moment added belatedly, "Sir."

Toombs breathed in deep and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're telling me no one's seen Shepard since she jumped out that goddamn window?"

"Yeah." Toombs opened an eye and glared at the man before him. "I mean, yeah sir."

Toombs exhaled. He didn't miss the Alliance – how could he, after what they had done to him, to his men? – but sometimes he did miss the perks, like the order or respect for the chain of command that was instilled into its soldiers. He hadn't really ever appreciated the discipline Alliance marines had until he was forced to make due with the dregs of the galaxy that made up his crew now.

"I want Shepard found, _now._" he said, looking to the side as his door hissed open. He bit down a groan as he recognized the krogan who entered and marched towards them.

"Hmph. Worried your little girlfriend will run away?" Keave said as she came up beside Jeroth. The young man stiffened and inched away.

Toombs braced his hands on the desk between them, glaring at her. "You've no idea what you're even talking about."

"I know you let one of Cerberus' best operatives escape right out from under that thing you call a nose." she grumbled, holding his gaze. Jeroth quietly took another step back. "An operative who just happened to be an old friend of yours."

A sudden wave of pain jolted through Toombs, making his breath hitch slightly. He ignored the sickening sensation; he'd been living with the after effects of the thresher maw venom for years now, and had long ago learned how to deal with all but the worst of the symptoms. "My past with Shepard is none of your goddamn business."

"Yeah? Well I say it _is_ my damn business." She took a step closer to the desk. "How else did Shepard get away from our ambush, huh? Fully surrounded, with all the exits blocked off. No way she could have gotten out of there without help."

Toombs felt his hands curl into fists. "If you've got something to say, Keave, then just say it. Don't scurry around it like some inbred varren."

The krogan narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm saying you either helped that bitch escape, or she got out all on her own. Either way means you're a useless pyjak."

Toombs leaned forward, holding her gaze as he resisted the urge to just shoot the krogan here and now. He'd need her strength for when Shepard came – which wouldn't be long now at all, if she was still half the woman he remembered, Cerberus or no. "_Enough_. You have no idea how dangerous Shepard is, what she's capable of. You really think you'd even have a chance against her without me?"

Keave shrugged. "She's one human, alone with a half dead turian that's probably already rotting in an alley somewhere. What could she possibly-" The sound of an explosion from the floors below cut her off, and Keave looked down as the ground shook slightly beneath them.

Toombs narrowed his eyes as fresh wave of pain shot through him, then reached for his gun.

* * *

Shepard was focused.

She was in the middle of battle, surrounded by hostiles. Just one mistake, one small slip, and it would be all over. So of course she was focused. She had to be.

And yet that didn't stop her from watching Garrus with an almost hungry fascination.

How had she never noticed before how impossibly _graceful_ was? He moved through the crowded room, dropping merc after merc with each shot, and Shepard found herself marveling at the precision that rippled through him with every action; at the casual way his arm rose to reload his rifle with a natural ease, wasting not a second as he popped out the filled heat-sink and replaced it with a fresh one; at the way he vaulted over a low crate and ducked behind another as smoothly as a born predator. Had he always angled his hip like that when he lined up a shot? And had the blue in his eyes always burned that bright when they found hers after nailing yet another headshot? Certainly that fluttering sensation in her stomach in response had never been there, of that Shepard was sure.

_You're going to get yourself killed, getting distracted like this, _she told herself as she finally dragged her eyes away from him, activating her Cloak as she slid out from behind her cover to find a better vantage point. She came up beside a merc whose shields had already been taken care of by Garrus and proceeded to finish the job with a quick series of shots from her pistol. She ducked behind a nearby couch while she waited for her Cloak to recharge. _Or worse, you'll get _him_ killed,_ the voice continued as she glanced over the room.

They had almost cleared out the first floor completely and, by her count, the two of them had finished off at least eleven mercs by now. Roughly a little less than half of Toombs crew, if they were lucky. The rest of his men seemed to be hunkering down on the upper floors, and Shepard used the sudden lull in enemies to move closer to Garrus.

"Think it's time to press forward?" he asked as she came up beside him, crouching behind the same crate he was.

"Yeah. The others don't seem to be coming down anytime soon."

"Well, I guess they had to wise up sooner or later. Damn shame, though. Those stairs had them funneling in right to me." he said, tossing his head towards the pile of corpses that clogged the stairwell in front of them. He turned back to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. "By the way, it was seven to five this time around."

Had his voice always _purred _like that?

Shepard swallowed and ran a hand across the back of her neck. "Yeah, well, I figured I'd cut you a break, what with being injured and all." Which was true, or at least partially. She _had_ noticed the way he had faltered every now and then, his hand pausing momentarily over his side in-between reloading and shooting. That had even been her excuse for watching him so closely at first; she'd told herself she was only doing it out of concern, like any proper commander would for her crew. And that was true.

Or at least partially.

"How are you holding up?" she asked him, leaning in to take a closer look at his wound. The medi-gel patch seemed to be wearing out slightly against the strain of combat, it's clear casing cracked and dried in some places.

Garrus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking away. "It's fine, Commander. Nothing I can't handle."

"Uh huh." she said as she opened up her omni-tool anyway.

"Really, Shepard, you don't-"

"Oh just sit still, Garrus." Shepard said, rolling her eyes as she applied a fresh patch over his burned side. He stiffened slightly when she released the dosage, but then let out a barely muffled sigh of relief as the anesthetic kicked in. "There, all done."

He twisted to the side and back, stretching. "Thanks, Commander."

She nodded, and gave him a crooked grin as she lifted her pistol. "Now let's go kill some mercs."

* * *

There was something off about Shepard.

Her bio-feedbacks had been spiking abnormally ever since they had first left Afterlife. Garrus had dismissed it at first, assuming it was from anger, but now he wasn't so sure. He shot a glance at her as he reloaded, watching from behind his crate as she sniped a merc from behind her own cover. Her readings were normal now – her heart-rate was slightly higher than usual maybe, but he attributed that to battle adrenaline –yet he could have sworn her pulse had been elevated earlier when she had come over to him after they had finished off the first wave of mercs.

Garrus took a moment to aim at a clutch of mercs across from him, and then fired a Concussive shot. His mandibles flicked as the group scattered, one of the bio-readings in his monitor disappearing with a blink. Another blipped out as Shepard landed a headshot on one of the stunned mercs, and he glanced over her. He winked when her eyes met his, acknowledging the shot, and once again her heart-rate spiked strangely. His eyes narrowed with concern, but before he could do more the readings had leveled back out and she was grinning at him. "That's twelve to twelve" her voice crackled in his ear, and then she was gone as she activated her Cloak and disappeared.

He resisted the urge to shake his head as he took aim again. Had she gotten injured earlier, back during their fight at the warehouse? He hadn't exactly been fully aware of what was going on back then, so it was possible she'd taken a hit when he was semi-unconscious. Garrus fired, taking down the barrier of a biotic. Another two shots saw the merc fall and Garrus moved on to another target. _It could be from stress, _he thought as he took out a salarian engineer. _Going after Toombs like this probably isn't easy for her. _He ducked back behind the counter he was using as cover and ejected the filled thermal clip. Then again, maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe-

"Garrus!" Shepard's voice crackled in his ear, "Move!"

He didn't hesitate; Garrus dove away from the counter, rolling to the side just as the metal frame twisted and bent beneath the massive weight of a charging krogan. He scrambled to his feet as the krogan roared, running towards him as it leveled a shotgun in his direction. Garrus brought his own gun up and fired, swearing when the trigger clicked uselessly without an empty clip in it's heat sink. He backed away and fumbled at his belt for a clip while the krogan grinned, its finger squeezing down on its shotgun's trigger.

A ball of orange light shot past Garrus and crashed into the krogan's face. It roared as the fire spread across its body, throwing its head back and dropping its gun as the Incineration burned its armor away. There was a static fizzle as Shepard appeared just in front of the krogan, her cloak flickering off as she aimed her pistol at its head and fired. She got off three shots before the merc lashed out with a growl, its thick fist colliding into Shepard's right shoulder.

Something twisted inside Garrus when he heard the dull _crack _that followed the collision, and his mandibles flared when Shepard gasped as her arm dropped limply beside her. Her gun fell from her grasp and she dodged the krogan's next punch as she ducked to pick it up with her good hand. The krogan reached down towards her, and Garrus ran forward as he finished reloading. He slammed the butt of his rifle into the krogan's face, feeling the thick bone and skin break beneath the weight of his gun. He smashed the merc's face once more before the krogan could react, then jumped away when it swung out blindly with a fist. Garrus glanced over at Shepard beside him as he regained his balance, who already had her pistol up and aimed at the merc. She nodded at him as he did the same, and then they both fired.

Two empty thermal clips later, Garrus and Shepard stood panting over the merc, their guns still aimed on the krogan's prone form even though it had long since stopped moving. Finally, after double checking his visor's bio readings once again just to be sure, Garrus let his rifle lower. He looked over as Shepard did the same beside him and his eyes found hers. The bright green glittered with adrenaline and she grinned at him as she said, somewhat breathlessly, "Nice work, Vakarian."

His mandibles spread as he smiled back. "Well, I try." he said, raising his rifle slightly in a kind of salute. "Thanks for saving my ass back there."

Her eyebrows rose in acknowledgement as she holstered her pistol. "Anything for my favorite turian." His mandibles twitched at her words, but then stilled when he saw the way her forehead creased with pain as she tried to move her injured arm.

"How bad is it?" he asked, walking over to her and holstering his own weapon.

"It's fine, just a shoulder dislocation I think." she answered, wincing slightly as she ran her hand over the shoulder the krogan had hit. She stiffened when Garrus carefully did the same, gently examining the strange angle her arm hung at now.

"We're going to have to pop it back in place." he said as he looked it over.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You've done this before?"

He nodded. "It's been awhile, but yeah. I had a human partner once, back in C-Sec. It was only for a few weeks before he transferred out, but long enough for me to pick up a few things."

"A few weeks and you already learned how to relocate a human's arm? Damn, C-Sec's more dangerous than I thought."

"It was his own fault, really. Damn idiot tried to follow a perp through a vent and got himself stuck when it turned out he wasn't nearly as flexible as he thought he was. Took me almost an hour to get him out."

Shepard started to laugh, then stopped when the motion caused her injured arm to shake. "Well, can't say I blame him. Flexibility's really about all us humans have in our favor compared to you bigger species."

Garrus shook his head, keeping his hand held lightly over the place where her empty socket was as he finished his examination. "Not this guy. You should have seen him, almost looked like he could have been part krogan he was so big. Not nearly as flexible as you, Commander." Shepard made a strange choking sound and he immediately lifted his hand, mandibles twitching. "Sorry. Did I press too hard?"

"No, no, that's," she cleared her throat. "No, it's fine. Let's just, ah, get this over with."

"Right." Garrus wrapped one of his hands around her elbow, placing the other one by her shoulder, and bent her forearm slowly upwards until he felt resistance. Shepard breathed in deep, closing her eyes. "You ready?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Do it."

Garrus moved his hand down from her shoulder to her upper arm and rotated it, moving it around slowly until he felt it pop back into its socket. Shepard hissed in a breath, clenching her teeth together as Garrus brought her forearm back towards her chest, testing the shoulder's placement. The bone stayed in place. He nodded. "All done, Shepard."

She exhaled, pinching her eyes shut for a moment. "Thanks."

"Anything for my favorite human." Garrus said lightly and her eyes popped open. She laughed breathlessly as he brought up his omni-tool and released a dosage of medi-gel through her system. "Better?" he asked, running a hand over her shoulder one last time. He checked her pupils for excess dilation.

"Perfect." she said as she held his eyes, and his mandibles twitched at the sudden intensity that glittered in them. Before he could react further, however, she coughed and looked away. "It's all perfect now, thanks."

Garrus took his hand off her shoulder, suddenly feeling awkward. He scratched at his scars. "No problem, Commander."

Shepard took in a deep breath, then glanced upwards at the final floor above them. "Right. Let's finish this."

Garrus nodded. "I'm right behind you, Shepard."


End file.
